The government is now fully funded for fiscal 2024, with President Biden’s signing this weekend of the last of two spending packages. That’s the good news. The government has been operating on a series of stopgap spending bills since Oct. 1.
The bad news is that fiscal 2025 is now just six months away. There is no chance Congress will get the FY25 spending bills ready before then, or even before the November election.
The latest spending package includes funding for the Labor Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. Key areas of the Labor Department that deal with agriculture are funded for FY24 at the same amounts they got in FY23. That includes the Wage and Hour Division and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
President Biden said in a statement after signing the legislation, “The bipartisan funding bill I just signed keeps the government open, invests in the American people, and strengthens our economy and national security. This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted.” He called on Congress to pass a supplemental spending bill for Ukraine and Israel as well as new border security legislation.
By the way: The explanatory statement that accompanies the latest FY24 spending package includes a request for a report on the work of the National Occupational Research Agenda Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Sector Council to improve monitoring skin cancer in farmworkers.
The statement also deals with the issue of alcohol consumption and federal dietary guidelines. The Department of Health and Human Services and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) are being given 60 days to brief the committee on “efforts to examine the effects of alcohol consumption among adults … and the department’s methodology for ensuring the effort operates in a manner that is unbiased and free from conflict of interest.”
While we’re at it. With the FY24 bills complete, Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, announced that she’s stepping down as chair of the House Appropriations Committee. Rules Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., is considered the front-runner to replace her.
Luján proposes update to standards for child agriculture workers
Sen. Ben Ray Luján is proposing an overhaul of current standards for children working in agriculture.
The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment in Agriculture, introduced by the New Mexico Democrat on Thursday, would update the age and work hour standards under the Fair Labor Standards Act for children working in agriculture to those in other industries.
The bill, according to a press release, would keep current family farm and 4-H, educational, and vocational training exemptions, and preserve an exception for family farms. It would also expand maximum penalties from $11,000 to $151,380 for child labor violations and from $50,000 to $690,000 for violations that result in death or serious injury. Totals would be adjusted annually based on the Consumer Price Index, the release said.
Rounds, Klobuchar propose more frequent updates to Livestock Indemnity Program payment rates
Sens. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., have introduced a bill to require the Farm Service Agency to update Livestock Indemnity Program payment rates quarterly based on the market value of livestock.
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LIP pays producers up to 75% of the average fair market value of livestock lost due to adverse weather or attacks from animals reintroduced into the wild by the federal government, according to the Farm Service Agency website. The agency is currently required to update payment rates annually, a press release from the two lawmakers says.
The proposed bill, the LIP Payment Improvement Act, is supported by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the South Dakota Farmers Union.
Grass seed probe leads to prison time, fines
An Idaho man received a year in prison and was ordered to pay nearly $350,000 for his involvement in multiple schemes to defraud J.R. Simplot and its subsidiary, Jacklin Seed Company, by selling mislabeled seed, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland, Oregon, announced.
Richard Dunham, a former Jacklin employee, is the second person from the company to be sentenced in the case. Jacklin general manager Christopher Claypool received a three-year sentence in 2021.
In two other cases, Ground Zero Seeds International and ProSeeds Marketing Inc. pleaded guilty to “knowingly concealing schemes to defraud Jacklin,” a news release said. Ground Zero was ordered to pay Simplot $516,000 in restitution, and ProSeeds was ordered to pay Simplot more than $78,000.
In a third case, CanKiwi Ventures Ltd., manager of the Canadian grower Moore Seed, pleaded guilty on March 7 to smuggling mislabeled seed into the United States using false documents and was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $100,000.
USDA’s Office of Inspector General aided in the investigation.
Corn continues to flow to Mexico
USDA said Friday that private exporters have reported sales of 263,000 metric tons of corn for delivery to Mexico, with 173,000 tons of that for delivery during the 2023/2024 marketing year and 90,000 for delivery during the 2024/2025 marketing year.
USDA recently forecast that U.S. exports to Mexico will hit a record 20.6 million tons this marketing year, which ends Sept. 1, as “surging consumer demand for livestock products continues to support feed demand in Mexico.”
Mexico’s domestic corn supply has been hurt by an ongoing drought and reduction in water available for irrigated winter corn, further fueling imports.
She said it: “I am really fed up with the Administration not engaging as we need them to on foreign trade.” That was Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, on Agri-Pulse Open Mic. She also talks about prospects for a new farm bill, electric vehicles, concerns about USDA employees in Washington, D.C. not returning to their offices and more.
