President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday night that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum will be nominated as interior secretary. Farm groups will be counting on the administration to roll back a series of regulations at Interior.
Trump’s nomination of RFK Jr. to HHS gets mixed reviews
Trump’s decision to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services is garnering decidedly mixed reactions to say the least.
Kennedy has been fiercely critical of the U.S. food system and has even proposed to fire all nutrition scientists at the FDA, which he will now be overseeing. He’s also had harsh words for pesticides, food additives, seed oils and ultraprocessed foods.
In a statement on X, Kennedy said he was looking forward to working at HHS “to free the agencies from the smothering cloud of corporate capture so they can pursue their mission to make Americans once again the healthiest people on Earth."
Can he get confirmed? RFK might lose some GOP votes, but he also could pick up a few Democrats. Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis praised the pick in a post on X.
Incoming Senate GOP Leader John Thune was noncommittal on Kennedy Thursday, according to Fox News. “Honestly, the entire nomination process is just getting started. So, let's give it a chance to see what happens and these names, none of them have been formally submitted yet. So, there's going to be a vetting process. That's when we will do our job under advise and consent to make sure that we process them in a fair and evenhanded way,” Thune said.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a physician and incoming chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said Kennedy has “championed issues like healthy foods and the need for greater transparency in our public health infrastructure.” Cassidy wrote in a post on X that he looks forward to learning more about Kennedy’s policy positions and how they could support a conservative agenda.
What they’re saying: Groups like the Center for Science in the Public Interest and Environmental Working Group panned the nomination.
Ken Cook, president and co-founder of EWG, called the RFK pick “the latest revenge-prank nomination to emerge from the patio of Mar-a-Lago.”
CSPI President Peter Lurie said, “Nominating an anti-vaxxer like Kennedy to HHS is like putting a Flat Earther at the head of NASA.”
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Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of federal affairs at the Consumer Brands Association, said the industry group is “prepared to work with the confirmed appointee and qualified experts within HHS to support public health, build consumer trust and promote consumer choice.”
But Gallo also said that the federal regulatory agencies in HHS “operate under a science and risk-based mandate and it is critical that framework remains under the new administration.”
USDA estimates disaster aid need at $14B
One of the biggest items on lawmakers’ to-do list before the end of the year is passing a disaster aid bill. The administrator of USDA’s Farm Service Agency, Zach Ducheneaux, tells Agri-Pulse that the department estimates agricultural losses from hurricanes and other disasters in 2023 and 2024 at $14 billion.
“That’s the support we need” from Congress, Ducheneaux said in an interview at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting’s annual meeting in Kansas City. He said the losses involved 64 natural disasters over the two-year period.
Keep in mind: The last time Congress passed a disaster aid package lawmakers funded only about one-third of the $10 billion in estimated losses.
Take note: Ducheneaux said USDA hasn’t been consulted by lawmakers yet on a possible package of assistance for farmers who’ve been hit by the downturn in commodity prices.
NFU lays out policy asks for Trump 2.0
The National Farmers Union is pushing the second Trump administration to build on the Packers and Stockyards Act, take a “measured and cooperative” approach to tariffs and strengthen the farm safety net.
The group, which represents family farmers and ranchers, highlighted several policy priorities it hopes President-elect Donald Trump focuses on in his upcoming term. These ranged from biofuel, workforce, tax policy and more.
“We want to work with you and your administration to ensure that we can continue to provide food, fiber, and fuel for the more than 330 million Americans and billions around the world while ensuring that family farmers and ranchers can succeed,” NFU says in a letter to Trump and his transition team.
Colorado ranchers request delay in further wolf reintroduction efforts
Colorado ranchers are urging the state’s wildlife agency to delay further wolf reintroductions until it can develop better strategies and tools to deal with livestock conflicts. Twenty-six livestock organizations petitioned the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission with the request.
Earlier this year, the agency announced it would be relocating a pack it introduced last year after a string of depredation events.
Take note: Reid Dewalt, deputy director of policy at the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife, said at a meeting Thursday that the agency is trying to secure funding for a program to deploy “range riders” to deal with livestock-wolf conflicts.
JBS reports record net revenue in third quarter
Meatpacking giant JBS reported record net revenue of nearly $20 billion in its third quarter, as well as earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation of $2.2 billion, a margin of 10.8%.
The company’s Pilgrim’s chicken brand “reported a solid 16.9% margin, driven by robust demand primarily in Europe, the U.S. and Mexico,” the company said.
JBS slightly raised its overall guidance for 2024 to net revenue of $77 billion and adjusted earnings between $6.9 billion and $7.1 billion.
“With the exception of JBS Beef North America, which is facing a challenging cattle cycle, all business units showed improvement compared to the same period last year,” JBS said. “This result reinforces the strength of the diversified global platform.”
Final word:
“We have tried unsuccessfully to better protect people and pollinators from harmful pesticides here in Colorado and we need all the help we can get to take on big chemical companies and improve human health and the environment! For our pollinators and our people!” – Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, reacting to President-elect Trump’s pick of RFK Jr. to lead HHS.
