California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom will join Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and California Ag Secretary Karen Ross in Los Angeles today to discuss the state’s policy on free school meals.
Also in the entourage will be billionaire hedge fund manager Kat Taylor, who has advocated for regenerative ag, has close ties to the Newsom administration and has invested heavily to influence climate-smart ag and nutrition policies.
Since 2019, Taylor has spent more than $1.6 million on lobbying the governor’s office and the Legislature on various issues.
Taylor has also been a regular campaign contributor for various state races over the years. Taylor is married to former presidential aspirant Tom Steyer, who is among California’s top political donors. Newsom selected Steyer to lead his economic recovery taskforce in 2020, which critics argued lacked transparency and delivered few policy recommendations.
Climate-smart ag research funding up significantly but still not enough, report says
Federal funding for agricultural climate mitigation research and development has doubled since 2017 to $421 million last year, according to a new analysis from the Breakthrough Institute. But it’s still not enough to address agriculture’s share of greenhouse gas emissions, the group says.
The agriculture sector makes up about 10% of national greenhouse gas emissions. While energy accounts for about nine times more emissions, federal research and development programs spent at least 22 times more on clean energy innovation than agriculture climate mitigation, according to the report.
This follows limited growth in overall research funding for USDA in comparison to other agencies, said Dan Rejto, director of food and agriculture at the institute. Most of the programs the report looked at are based at USDA; one significant one that is not is the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.
Most R&D funding on climate-research has focused on soil carbon sequestration, but Rejto said there’s little dedicated to reducing overall emissions from enteric methane. From 2017 to 2023, federal programs dedicated an average of $92 million annually to carbon sequestration, according to the report. Enteric methane accounted for just $11 million in average annual research funding.
FDA sets ag water quality rule webinar
FDA has announced a webinar on how to comply with its recently published rule on pre-harvest agricultural water requirements.
The one-hour event will take place Monday, May 20. FDA said it would “provide an overview of the final rule and answer pre-submitted questions as well as take live questions.”
One hour may not be enough, however. Agri-Pulse’s Rebekah Alvey reports in this week’s newsletter, out today, that some consumer advocates worry FDA may not have provided clear guidance in the rule about how to comply.
The rule requires pre-harvest assessments, as well as testing in some circumstances.
Read about the ag water quality rule, how the House Ag Committee’s plans to mark up a farm bill may help vulnerable GOP members, and how the newly released farm bill proposals from Democrats and Republicans address USDA conservation programs.
OSHA proposes fining Nebraska grain yard after employee gets hit by truck
The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is proposing $261,375 in penalties for a
goods transport company after an employee was hit by a truck and hospitalized in January.
A yard manager at Rail Modal Group’s Fremont, Nebraska, grain yard was struck by a truck while directing congested traffic. OSHA cited the company with 21 “serious” violations and two “other than serious” violations and also found it had failed to meet the agency’s grain-handling safety standards.
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Rail Modal has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to either comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings, OSHA says. The agency began investigating in November after fielding “allegations of unsafe working conditions, including exposure to struck-by vehicle hazards,” OSHA says.
FMC reports lower revenues amid destocking
FMC reported $918 million in revenue in its first quarter, 32% lower than the same period in 2023, a decline the company said was “driven by [a] 27% decline in volume due to ongoing channel destocking in all regions.”
Sales in North America were down 48%, “almost entirely due to volume against a record-breaking prior-year period,” FMC said. “Fungicide sales out-performed the portfolio,” with growth from new fungicide products.
FMC maintained its revenue outlook of $4.50 billion to $4.70 billion, reflecting 2.5% growth at the midpoint versus 2023. Share prices of the company were up more than 9% Tuesday after the results were announced.
Construction of National Center for Resilient and Regenerative Precision Agriculture underway
A ceremonial "turning of dirt" has kicked off construction on the National Center for Resilient and Regenerative Agriculture, an Agricultural Research Service lab that is being built on the University of Nebraska campus.
The $160 million laboratory, which is being built through a partnership between USDA and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will eventually host 15,000 square feet of greenhouses and 10,000 square feet of "headhouse space," according to a press release.
It is intended to serve as a research hub for precision agriculture technology, as well as wheat, barley, sorghum, forage and bioenergy grasses, ARS said.
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