In what appears to be a response to claims amplified by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the dangers of modern agriculture, nearly 270 farm groups from across the country are warning leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture committees about the importance of inputs such as pesticides.
A letter dated Oct. 14 that was shared with Agri-Pulse doesn’t directly mention the Make America Healthy Again initiative being advanced by Kennedy as part of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
But the letter says that “in recent weeks, we have observed significant misunderstandings regarding tools farmers, ranchers, public health officials, land managers, and others need to produce our nation’s food, fuel, and fiber supplies; maintain public health initiatives; protect public lands; and preserve infrastructure, among other uses.”
The groups also say products created using biotechnology are safe. “Genetic improvement technologies are likewise essential for continued U.S. agricultural productivity, sustainability, and competitiveness,” they said.
Why it matters: Kennedy said in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece that if Trump wins, he could “revisit pesticide and other chemical-use standards.” He said the European Union has banned or proposed to remove from the market dozens of pesticides still used in the U.S.
RFK Jr. has specifically called out glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, as a carcinogen and criticized U.S. agriculture’s dependence on biotechnology to produce pesticides and herbicides. He’s also linked the presence of endocrine disruptors in tap water to gender confusion in children.
“It's impossible to use the legislative process to ban glyphosate or to ban high fructose corn syrup,” Kennedy told The Detroit News editorial board recently. “They're too politically powerful. … I'm going to create enough science identifying these exposures and the impacts of them [so] that then the lawyers will come in and sue.”
USDA issuing $2.1 billion in annual payments
Some $2.14 billion in Conservation Reserve Program payments and commodity program subsidies are going out to farmers and landowners this week.
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Annual CRP payments, including transition incentive program payments, total $1.7 billion. Colorado has the largest acreage enrolled in CRP at 2.98 million acres. Next is South Dakota at 2.63 million, followed by Nebraska at 2.42 million, Texas at 2.23 million, and Kansas at 2.04 million.
Total CRP enrollment has risen to nearly 26 million acres after USDA accepted 2.2 million acres into the program.
The Farm Service Agency also is issuing more than $447 million in payments to farmers through the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Prices Loss Coverage programs.
Mosaic facilities resuming normal operations post-Milton
Fertilizer producer Mosaic estimates 200,000 to 250,000 tons of production were lost due to facility closures from Hurricane Milton.
But all Mosaic phosphate production sites except the Riverside location have resumed normal operations. Two potash mine sites at South Fort Meade and Four Corners still have production paused. All three facilities have plans to resume production within the next two weeks.
“The quick return to normal operations is a result of the proactive and orderly storm management practices followed,” the company says. Production was proactively idled before Milton made landfall.
Why it matters: Mosaic accounts for 73% of North American phosphate production and 40% of potash production annually.
USDA expands D-SNAP for Florida, Georgia residents
USDA has expanded availability for Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to additional counties in Georgia and Florida.
More than 407,000 households in 24 Florida counties are expected to be eligible for disaster relief following Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Last week, the agency opened D-SNAP to parts of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, which impacted an estimated 1.2 million households. On Monday, the agency made an additional five counties in Georgia eligible.
D-SNAP offers aid for grocery expenses to individuals who may not qualify for SNAP benefits in typical circumstances.
Poultry workers in Washington infected with avian flu
Four poultry workers in Washington have tested presumptively positive for avian influenza after, the state’s health department says.
Washington becomes the sixth state where humans have gotten the bird flu. In California, 13 people have had it, and other cases have been confirmed in Michigan, Colorado, Missouri and Texas.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture reported Monday that highly pathogenic avian influenza has been confirmed at 131 dairies in the state.
The cases in Washington took place at a farm where 800,000 birds were euthanized after test results by the state ag department on Oct. 15 showed they were infected with avian flu.
AMS to expand reporting of organic price information
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service is now collecting price information on several organic products, including milk, cattle, fertilizer and specialty crops.
The agency will release farm gate organic milk prices for Vermont and Pennsylvania, production cost prices for organic poultry litter fertilizer in Alabama, Maryland and Pennsylvania, and farmers market coverage in Pennsylvania, Iowa, New York and California. The data is being collected under a 2018 farm bill provision that requires the agency to compile organic pricing information.
Looking ahead: The agency plans to expand its collection of market information for organic grains and feedstuffs next year.
Final word. In the pre-election letter to the Senate and House Ag committees, the ag groups say “the science- and risk-based systems for biotechnology and pesticides used by the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, and many other nations are superior to hazard-based regulatory systems used by the EU and advocated for by some. These hazard-based systems greatly overstate risks and unnecessarily restrict essential tools needed by farmers, other users, and consumers.”
