Two House subcommittees are going to look into the recent food shortages that have plagued tribal communities throughout the summer. The House Ag subcommittee that oversees nutrition programs and the House Ag Appropriations Subcommittee have scheduled a joint hearing for next Wednesday.
The hearing will focus on recent backlogs and shortages affecting participants in the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program. Program representatives have reported significant delays or unwarned canceled deliveries, incorrect orders or expired foods.
A combined 770,000 people rely on the programs. Participants opt out of other federal nutrition programs like SNAP, often due to challenges accessing nearby grocery stores.
The delays have been attributed to supply chain disruptions for the program’s contractor. In recent weeks, groups of lawmakers have pressed USDA, which sources food for these programs, for details of how the situation progressed, and the agency’s response.
Grassley sees one-year farm bill extension this month
Lawmakers return to D.C. next week for a possible battle over keeping the government funded when the new fiscal year starts Oct. 1. And they also may take up another extension for the 2018 farm bill.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters Tuesday he thinks a new one-year farm bill extension will be attached to whatever continuing resolution Congress ultimately passes this month to keep the government funded into fiscal 2025. “It’s too bad we don’t roll up our sleeves and get the job done” on a new farm bill this year, he said.
Senate GOP Whip John Thune of South Dakota said last month that Congress was likely to pass a one-year farm bill extension but didn’t say when it would be considered.
Keep in mind: The House farm bill has a $33 billion funding gap, according to the Congressional Budget Office, that may not be any easier to fix in the next Congress.
Grassley suggested Congress may have to override the CBO’s score of the bill. In the Senate that would require 60 votes, and that would “not be very fiscally responsible,” Grassley said. He has said in the past that Congress should abide by CBO’s cost estimates.
Missouri study finds 45% of college students in state are food-insecure
About 45% of Missouri college students who took part in a recent University of Missouri study said they were food-insecure, but only 34.3% of them knew if they were eligible for SNAP.
As part of the food insecurity study, researchers submitted questions to 844 college students across nine Missouri universities.
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About 36% of respondents reported that their household had received food stamp benefits in the previous 12 months.
Take note: While private institutions, HBCUs, community colleges and technical schools were found to have “more food security than food insecurity,” public colleges did not.
AccuWeather pulls back on Atlantic storm predictions
AccuWeather has cut its forecast for named Atlantic storms after a quiet first half of the 2024 hurricane season.
"Widespread dry air, Saharan dust, wind shear, and unusual cold waters off the coast of Africa have been disrupting tropical development in recent weeks," the forecaster says, adding that the Labor Day weekend was the first in 27 years without a named storm in the Atlantic.
AccuWeather now expects between 16 and 20 named storms, including 3-6 major hurricanes, down from 20-25 named storms previously. It expects four to six storms to have direct impact on the U.S.
Montana senator asks Vilsack for assistance amid Remington wildfire
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., is appealing to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for help amid a wildfire that since last week has burned through 196,387 acres of land in his state and neighboring Wyoming.
In a letter, Tester says the blaze has killed “countless livestock” and ruined grazing land, fences and structures. Total livestock losses are unknown, he says.
“Given the severity of the Remington fire, I ask that you act swiftly to provide Montana’s agricultural producers with the emergency assistance they need to respond to this disaster and protect our nation’s food systems,” Tester writes.
FDA to host webinar on proposed second-round sodium reduction goals
FDA is planning a stakeholder webinar to go over draft guidance of new targets for voluntary sodium reduction in foods, along with a preliminary assessment of progress in cutting sodium so far.
On Oct. 10, representatives from the agency will provide an overview of the new voluntary targets for sodium reductions in foods, the second phase of a larger initiative to limit sodium. The draft guidance for the Phase II targets was released in August and suggests sodium levels for 163 food categories that are commercially processed or prepared in restaurants and other food service establishments.
In addition to reviewing the proposed targets, the agency will discuss preliminary data from 2022 that shows how successful food categories were in meeting Phase 1 targets.
Final word: Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters that Senate Ag Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., already has a “wonderful legacy,” but said “her legacy would be better if we could get a five-year farm bill passed.” Stabenow isn’t running for re-election.
