The Natural Resources Conservation Service is up to 11,709 full-time staff, a level not seen in over a decade, amid its efforts to roll out $19.5 billion in additional conservation funding provided through the Inflation Reduction Act.
Hiring freezes, competition with the private sector, retirements and limited candidate pools have at different times in the last eight years complicated agency leaders’ efforts to staff up. Employee numbers fell in 2017 and didn’t begin rising again until 2019. They fell again in 2021, but have since risen in a recent push driven by the additional funds.
But, but, but: Agency leaders expect 14,000 employees will be needed to handle the additional demands anticipated in the IRA’s lifespan. Their aim is to hire 1,600 this year, 1,200 next year and 1,100 in 2026.
Go deeper: Check out Agri-Pulse’s in-depth story on NRCS’ efforts, the history of staffing at the agency and how turnover impacts producers. The article is the first installment of a series, “Getting Grounded,” that examines the nation’s conservation delivery systems and the challenges farmers face in getting help and advice they need to implement practices that can improve water and air quality, reduce water usage, increase wildlife habitat, make farms more climate resilient, and cut greenhouse gas emissions. Agri-Pulse will release stories every Sunday.
New Harris-Walz radio ad launches
The presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is launching a rural radio blitz today with a new ad on more than 500 stations in battleground states.
The ad features Walz saying — among other things — “In a small town, you don't focus on the politics, you focus on taking care of your neighbors and minding your own damn business.”
The ad will run in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and is “part of the Harris campaign’s strategy to cut into Trump’s margins in rural counties,” a spokesperson said. Over the weekend, the campaign also launched a new voting coalition of hunters, anglers, and gun owners.
The campaign’s director of rural engagement, Matthew Hildreth, said, “We’ve had organizers and offices in these areas for the better part of a year, building community relationships and hearing from voters about the issues that matter to them — from small business and agriculture to broadband and healthcare.”
With only 21 days before the election, polls show the candidates, Donald Trump and Harris, running neck and neck in the five states where the ads will air.
Up close: Walz tried to demonstrate his rural credibility on Saturday during a pheasant hunting shoot in his home state, where unfortunately, the longtime hunter and former member of the Minnesota National Guard struggled to load his own Beretta gun. A friend of the governor made the sole kill during their three-hour hunt.
Meanwhile: Trump ally Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took direct aim at America’s farming system in a video on X where, standing outside the USDA in Washington, D.C., he said “America's current ag policy is destroying America's health on every level.”
Kennedy also said that “when Donald Trump gets me inside the building I'm standing outside right now,” he would rewrite regulations to “give the smaller operators a break.”
“We're going to encourage sustainable regenerative farming that can build soil and replenish aquifers,” Kennedy said. “We're going to ban the worst agricultural chemicals that are already prohibited in other countries. And we're going to remove conflicts of interest from the USDA dietary panels.”
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The video was accompanied by a request to make campaign donations.
Trump wants to renegotiate USMCA
Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump says he wants to renegotiate the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, or USMCA.
Trump has previously touted USMCA as the “best and most important trade deal ever made by the U.S.A.”
In an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Sunday, Trump said the U.S. has been “screwed by Mexico and by China and by Canada and by the European Union" and discussed his proposal to put a 200% tariff on cars made in Mexico by China.
He also said, however, that he was using the threat of 200% tariffs as “a figure of speech.”
“I'll say 100, 200, I'll say 500. I don't care," Trump said. “They’re not gonna bring cars into this country from Mexico.”
One prominent Democratic member of Congress questioned Trump’s talk of tariffs.
“Trump negotiated in 2018 and signed the USMCA that capped tariffs on most cars from Mexico at 2.5%,” California Rep. Ro Khanna said. “If he wanted 100, 200, 500% tariffs, why did he sign a treaty capping them at 2.5% when he was president?”
Fischer: Disaster package could include commodity payments
A Texas A&M professor is suggesting that a disaster aid package could help meet some of commodity farmers’ demands for additional commodity support payments.
Hurricane Helene’s devastation is prompting calls from Southern lawmakers for disaster aid legislation. Bart Fischer, co-director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University, suggested at the North Carolina Chamber’s Ag Allies Conference on Friday that lawmakers may weave together commodity program price supports with disaster assistance. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if legislation “in the $20 billion range" is floated in the "next week or two.”
Earlier in his presentation Fischer also seemed to suggest that because lawmakers often don’t worry about offsets in disaster packages, cobbling together the farm bill and a disaster aid package could “moot” ag committee leaders’ funding concerns.
"We do all this stuff off budget,” he said of disaster aid. "We don't worry about offsets in a disaster package. So if a farm bill or disaster aid hitch a ride on that, suddenly, 'how are we going to pay for a farm bill' is moot.”
Fischer was formerly chief economist for House Agriculture Committee ranking member Mike Conaway, R-Texas.
But, but, but: University of Illinois professor Jonathan Coppess doesn’t believe it will be politically possible to hitch the entire farm bill to disaster aid. “The moment you get resistance from any corner, it just gets jettisoned,” he said. "It’s such a big thing to carry."
Meanwhile: With the potential for a disaster aid package, Congress faces a long to-do list when it returns. While policy consultant Ferd Hoefner thinks it’s possible lawmakers may try to pass an aid package with some price-based payments for commodity farmers thrown in, he’s skeptical that Congress will finish a farm bill this year. Both appropriations and the possible aid package will take up the bulk of their attention, he said.
Protect the Harvest shutters amid funding struggles
Protect the Harvest, a nonprofit launched by Lucas Oil founder Forrest Lucas, will cease operations at the end of October due to “ongoing funding challenges,” according to a press release.
The advocacy organization, which has frequently clashed with animal rights groups, will deactivate its website and social media platforms by the end of the month.
“Over the past two-and-a-half years we’ve been diligently working to secure funding that would allow Protect The Harvest to continue operations going forward, but the current economy has made it challenging for many individuals and organizations that have supported us in the past,” Protect The Harvest Executive Director Mike Siemens said in the release.
The group’s latest 990 form filed with the Internal Revenue Service shows $96,127 in revenue and $419,025 in expenses.
FSIS updates product list for listeria recall
A recall on nearly 10 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry applies to several pre-made meals sold by major grocery chains, including Kroger, Trader Joe’s, 7-Eleven and HEB.
Last week distributor BrucePac recalled several items from its Oklahoma processing plant after some tested positive for listeria. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service now says more products are impacted by the recall, including premade salads, sandwiches and frozen meals.
Consumers are encouraged to carefully check the product information for several items from Trader Joe’s, Kroger, Amazon Kitchen, Taylor Farms, HEB, 7-Eleven, Home Chef, Meijer, Wegmans, Walmart and other brands.
FSIS initially shared a list of about 75 products that were included in the recall, but later updated it with a more extensive product list with labels, lot codes and best-by dates.
