The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Jason Smith, is our guest on Agri-Pulse Newsmakers this week. He talks about the tax issues facing Congress next year, and the differences between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris when it comes to trade as well as tax policy.
Farm groups are concerned about Trump’s threat to increase tariffs on U.S. trading partners. But Smith says Trump was “very aggressive” as president in trying to open new markets for U.S. ag products and would be during a second term as well. “We have an administration that is out to lunch, that is not openly trying to open up more markets for our farmers and our manufacturers,” says Smith, R-Mo.
Smith also talks about the expiring provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and pushes back on Harris’ pledge not to increase taxes on Americans making less than $400,000 a year. Harris hasn’t come up with a way to do that, Smith says.
The Smith interview, plus a discussion of the TCJA with two tax policy experts, is available today at Agri-Pulse.com.
25,000 meals packaged at Kraft Heinz Packathon
Rep. Tracey Mann, R-Kan., packages meals.
Lawmakers, staffers and industry leaders gathered near Capitol Hill Thursday for the Rise Against Hunger Packathon to prepare meals for the hungry. Ag Committee members Reps. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., Tracey Mann, R-Kan., and Nikki Budzinski, D-Ill., among others, participated.
Vilsack calls Boozman comments on CCC ‘ironic’
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack is needling Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, for comments the senator made this week praising previous Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue’s use of the Commodity Credit Corporation.
During floor remarks calling for emergency assistance to farmers this year, Boozman said, “We have seen previous ad hoc assistance programs established in a period of weeks, as demonstrated by then-Secretary Perdue when the COVID–19 pandemic created disruptions for producers. That level of timely and urgent response by Congress and the administration is once again warranted.”
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Vilsack told reporters Thursday, “I'm sure the
Over 200 volunteers assembled to package 25,000 meals during the two hour event. senator knows this, but just a reminder that the reason why Secretary Perdue tapped the Commodity Credit Corporation and … literally drained the [CCC], which forced Congress to replenish the money, was because of the tariffs that were assessed by the previous administration that caused a collapse in farm income.”
“It is a bit ironic when, on the one hand, they want to restrain the ability of a secretary to utilize the resources for certain circumstances and situations that arise, while at the same time touting the utilization of a rather substantial investment made from CCC,” Vilsack said, referring to Republican proposals to limit the ag secretary’s authority to use the CCC.
Republicans argue Vilsack has misused the CCC in tapping it to fund the $3 billion Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative.
General Mills, Ahold Delhaize team up on new conservation effort
Food manufacturer General Mills and supermarket giant Ahold Delhaize USA have announced plans to help farmers implement conservation practices like cover crops and nutrient management on over 70,000 acres of farmland in Kansas and Saskatchewan, Canada, by 2025.
The efforts are part of the companies’ plans to reduce the carbon footprint of their supply chains. The affected land "represents the approximate number of acres General Mills engages to source key ingredients, like wheat and oats,” for the products it sells at Ahold Delhaize USA stores, according to a release.
All meal bags contain a sealed nutrient package manufactured by Kraft Heinz.
The nonprofit Ecosystem Services Market Consortium will help implement the program, as well as taking soil carbon measurements and modeling estimated greenhouse gas emissions.
Lawmakers, wine wholesalers ask for more time in organic certification rule
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has joined the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America in asking USDA’s National Organic Program to further extend its grace period for an organic certification rule to prevent interruptions in the international commerce of wine and spirits.
The Strengthening Organic Enforcement rule went into effect in March and requires importers of organic wine and spirits to obtain certification through a USDA-accredited certifier. Many of these importers were previously exempted from certification prior to the rule, and are now facing a long waitlist, lawmakers wrote in a letter to NOP.
NOP allowed for a grace period until Sept.19 for importers in the process of obtaining certification. However, certifiers have a backlog of over four months, the lawmakers say in a letter. They want NOP to extend the grace period by another 120 days.
Rural economic conditions worsening, according to Creighton survey
Weak agricultural commodity prices, high input costs and falling agricu
Sara Wyant, publisher of Agri-Pulse, moderates a panel with Leon Keller, senior credit director at Bremer Bank; Kanlaya Barr, director of corporate economics at John Deere; and Josh McDonald, partner and chief financial officer at Blue Sky Farms. They discussed how changes in technology, including the use of AI, will affect agriculture.ltural equipment sales have pushed one survey’s rural economic readings to the lowest levels seen since the pandemic.
Creighton’s Rural Mainstreet Index, an analysis of rural economic conditions based on a 10-state survey of bank CEOs, sank to 37.5 in September from 40.9 in August. This is the lowest reading seen in the index, which ranges between 0 and 100 with 50 representing a growth-neutral rural economy, since the spring of 2020.
Final word: Bank CEOs surveyed expect farmland prices to drop by 5.3% over the next 12 months. “Of greater concern, approximately one-fourth of bankers anticipate a 10% to 20% downturn in farmland prices over the next year,” says Creighton University economist Ernie Goss.
