WASHINGTON, July 20, 2016 - Donald Trump is officially the
Republican standard bearer today after formally being nominated by president at
the GOP convention last night in Cleveland. And today the campaign is expected
to announce an effort to organize the agriculture sector behind Trump.
The aggies-for-Trump effort is expected to be announced today at the Great
American Farm Luncheon, an event organized by agribusiness companies and
organizations near the convention site. The Trump campaign effort will serve as
the Republican counter to a meeting that Agri-Pulse broke news of last week in
New York between a group of agribusiness CEOs and the Hillary Clinton campaign.
Pence makes acceptance speech. The star of the GOP convention tonight will be
Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. Indiana farm groups have been
praising the selection of Pence, who has been a big supporter of trade
agreements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Trump wants to
scrap. The convention also will hear from two of Trump’s former challengers for
the nomination, Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida.
Reform groups seek attention near GOP convention. Organizations that are
pushing for major changes in the farm and labor policy are trying to draw
attention to their agenda by hosting events at each of the national party
conventions. The Plate of the Union coalition hosted a barbecue reception
yesterday afternoon near the Quicken Loans arena, the site of the GOP convention.
The event attracted some journalists and small number of delegates and other
convention attendees. The chairman of the House Space, Science and Technology
Committee, Lamar Smith of Texas, showed up, although he didn’t appear to be
listening to the presentation. Also in attendance was a Democratic congressman,
Tim Ryan, who represents a district southwest of Cleveland that includes
Youngstown.
The coalition’s priorities include ending what it calls “subsidies that support
processed junk food.” The group also says it wants to increase working
conditions in farming and the food industry and ensure that agricultural policy
helps farms of all sizes.
The coalition will hold a similar event next week for the Democratic National
Convention in Philadelphia, and also is promoting its message up until Election
Day through a food truck that will travel around the country. The organizations
behind the group include the Union of Concerned Scientists and Food Policy
Action.
Actress-farmer warns on trade. An unlikely spokesperson for agriculture
surfaced during the convention last night. Soap opera actress Kimberlin Brown,
who has an avocado farm in California, made the case that farmers as well as
other small business owners are both struggling to make a living under the
burden of government regulations.
She also told the delegates that she’s learned about the downside of trade
agreements. “I’ve seen first hand our domestic markets flooded with imports
that harmed local farmers and even drove some out of business. My neighbors,
who have raised this product for years, are being forced to cut down their
groves.”
Heritage likes GOP platform’s position on farm bill. Daren Bakst, who
analyzes farm policy for the Heritage Foundation, was pleased to see that the Republican
platform advocates splitting nutrition programs from the rest of the farm bill.
Kelly Armstrong, a North Dakota delegate who co-chaired the subcommittee that
wrote the platform’s section on agriculture and energy, tells Agri-Pulse that
the recommendation is aimed at getting the farm bills passed more easily. The
thinking is that tying food stamps to farm bills makes it harder to pass them,
Armstrong says.
But Bakst likes the idea of splitting the farm bill because he believes it
would then be easier to force the Agriculture committees to make changes in
farm spending as well as in the nutrition program. Heritage will be rolling out
a new policy paper on agricultural risk management in September.
For more on the platform, be sure and read this week’s Agri-Pulse newsletter.
Obama, Vilsack headline global development forum. President Obama will get
a chance today to tout his legacy on agriculture development and other foreign
aid initiatives. Obama will keynote a global development forum in Washington.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will take part in a panel discussing the
president’s Feed the Future initiative.
Congress recently passed the Global Food Security Act, which will provide the
first congressional authorization for Feed the Future. The bill is waiting for
the president’s signature.
Lesser prairie chicken hops off list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
is formally removing the
lesser prairie-chicken from the endangered species list, 10 months after a federal
judge determined that USFWS had illegally designated the bird as
“threatened.” The decision was applauded by listing opponents, including Senate
Environment and Public Works Chairman James Inhofe, R-Okla., and
lamented by environmentalists, who fear that absent federal protection, the
bird will slide toward extinction.
U.S. District Judge Robert Junell had ruled that the Fish and Wildlife Service
failed to adequately consider the impact of state conservation plans. But Erik
Molvar, a wildlife biologist with the group WildEarth Guardians, said the
states’ voluntary conservation plans “do little to address the threat of
fracking, livestock grazing and industrial agriculture.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service said it’s “undertaking a thorough re-evaluation
of the bird’s status and the threats it faces.”
He said it. “Our next Supreme Court justice will determine the future of
American agriculture policy, the future of all of our laws in this nation in
terms of judging them, for a generation.” - Texas beef producer and GOP
convention delegate Eric Opiela, telling Agri-Pulse that the most important
issue in the election for agriculture is control of the Supreme Court. See
the whole interview here.
Spencer Chase and Steve Davies contributed to this report.
#30
For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com
