Leaders of the House and Senate Ag committees are working together to lay the groundwork for passing a farm bill before the end of the year. That’s according to a memo to House Ag Committee Democrats from the panel’s ranking member, David Scott of Georgia.
The memo says the four committee leaders are united in fighting the inclusion of a one-year farm bill extension in the stopgap spending bill Congress needs to pass this month.
“We all know that Congress needs pressure to act. That is why Chairman Thompson, Chair Stabenow, Ranking Member Boozman, and I agree we are better off without another extension at this point. The farm groups are also asking Congress to continue to work on passing a full farm bill this year and are not supporting any extension at this time,” the Scott memo says.
Scott says he hopes the committee leaders can agree on “broad funding parameters” for the bill while the House and Senate are in session this month. “That would allow Committee staff to start to pull together a bipartisan package of legislative text for Members to review and consider. The hope would then be for the package to be included in must-pass legislation, likely the NDAA or the appropriations omnibus package in December,” the memo says.
Take note: The memo says farmers who have been in Washington this week are urging lawmakers to consider moving a two-year, ad hoc package of special funding for farmers, if the farm bill can’t pass this year.
By the way: Ben Goldey, a spokesman for House Ag Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., said in a statement to Agri-Pulse that “Thompson has been at the table, and he’s thrilled to see the Ranking Member acknowledge the crisis in farm country, and express a desire to join him, to bring home an effective farm bill that provides a robust safety net for America’s producers.”
Also in the news: The House passed a bill to increase oversight of farmland purchased by investors from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. Read our coverage here.
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack meets with the NPPC board before Hill visitsFarmer teams make farm bill push
Scott’s memo notes that corn, wheat, rice, cotton, soybean and sorghum growers joined ag lenders on Capitol Hill this week to press lawmakers for a new farm bill.
“It’s rare for lots of groups to be mixing up and doing like we are,” said Kentucky farmer and ASA vice president Caleb Ragland told Agri-Pulse’s Lydia Johnson between lawmaker visits. “A lot of us have never met each other before, but we have so much in common it’s easy for us to walk into an office and tell our story. And our story’s consistent.”
Keeff Felty, president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, says the industry “needs a farm bill that strengthens the farm safety net to reflect the conditions in the farm economy better.”
Deere to pay $10 million over bribery accusations involving Thailand-based subsidiary
Deere & Co. has agreed to pay $10 million to the Security and Exchange Commission over allegations one of its subsidiaries offered cash payments, massage parlor visits and international travel to secure business with Thai government employees and employees of a private company.
An SEC order says employees of Thai-based Deere subsidiary Wirtgen Thailand made approximately $4.3 million from bribes, which were “inaccurately recorded as legitimate expenses in Deere’s books and records, the SEC says.
Deere says in a statement the individuals involved in the matter are no longer with the company and that it “conducted a thorough internal investigation and fully cooperated with the SEC on the issues.”
EPA’s regulation – or lack thereof – of CAFOs at issue in court arguments
Environmental groups and the EPA will square off in federal appeals court today over whether the agency’s approach to regulation of concentrated animal feeding operations has been adequate to protect water quality.
Food & Water Watch and a dozen of other groups say it hasn’t and want the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to order the agency to reconsider its denial of a petition that sought more regulation of CAFOs.
Representatives from the National Association of Wheat Growers meet with lawmakers.
EPA turned down the petition last year, opting instead to form a Federal Advisory Committee Act panel to study the issue.
Food & Water Watch attorney Emily Miller said, however, that the agency’s study “is narrowly focused on only one aspect of CAFO regulations, which are the pollution standards applicable to permitted CAFOs, and it does not address the real heart of the problem, which is the widespread failure of EPA to [require permits for] discharging CAFOs in the first place.”
About a third of the nation’s 21,500 large CAFOs have permits.
Check it out: The arguments will be livestreamed on the court’s website. The case is the third to be argued in a series that starts at noon EDT and will feature five minutes from an attorney representing the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Pork Producers Council, U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, and United Egg Producers. Those groups are backing EPA in the case.
EPA says most permits don’t have to go to headquarters
EPA says most of the jurisdictional determinations approved by Army Corps of Engineers districts over the past year have been issued “without being elevated to the agencies’ headquarters.”
“The agencies’ coordination process helps to ensure accurate and consistent implementation of the definition of ‘waters of the United States’ under the two regulatory regimes that are currently operative,” EPA says. The agency notes that 23 states are operating under a Biden administration “waters of the U.S.” rule, while 27 are not.
An EPA spokesperson cited an update posted on the agency’s website, which said only about 5% of approved JD’s had been elevated to headquarters for resolution.
By the way: Agri-Pulse sought answers from the agency about whether it was still using the “significant nexus” test to determine jurisdictional authority over waters, as suggested by Courtney Briggs, senior director for government affairs at the American Farm Bureau Federation.
NCC calls on AMS to withdraw proposed market competition rule
The National Chicken Council is urging USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service to drop its proposed rule on Fair and Competitive Livestock and Poultry Markets.
In comments submitted Wednesday, NCC said the proposed rule would cause widespread confusion and come with “staggering costs” to the meat and poultry industries, which could be passed down to consumers. Additionally, the group makes the case that the rule as written would violate some of AMS’s authority, and is vague, unworkable and arbitrary.
The Meat Institute also blasted the proposal in its comments, “Changing the harm to competition standard requires congressional action,” said Mark Dopp, chief operating officer and general counsel.
The Open Markets Institute argues the Packers & Stockyards Act provides sufficient authority for the department to adopt the proposal,
Final word: “When you have an ag lender pipe up and say ‘what they’re saying is exactly right: We’re concerned. We have loans in distress. We have folks who aren’t going to get their operating money renewed for the 2025 crop. We have farms that are nearing foreclosure.’ I mean, it’s a serious message.” – Kentucky farmer and ASA vice president Caleb Ragland.
