Archives for July, 2009
Weekly Update – July 20-24, 2009
Monday, July 27th, 2009
ACTION NEEDED
Food Safety Bill on House Floor Tomorrow! As we go to press, we are waiting for more information about any changes made to HR 2749 — the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 — before it goes to the floor of the House tomorrow. Please stay tuned for an action alert from us later today! (read more about the bill and House vote below).
Remember to Take Action During the August Recess! August recess is a great opportunity for NSAC member organizations to meet with and get to know their members of Congress while they are at home in the district or the state. It’s an opportunity to educate them about your organization and our issues without the expense of a plane ticket to DC. Their schedules get full fast, so act soon. For some more pointers and talking points to use during in-district meetings or at scheduled Town Halls, please visit the Take Action page of NSAC’s website.
LAST WEEK
Senate Agriculture Committee Climate Change Legislation Hearing: On Wednesday, July 22, the Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing on climate change. Panelists included USDA Secretary Vilsack, EPA Administrator Jackson, and Dr. John Holdren, Director of the White Office of Science and Technology. Another panel included Roger Johnson, President of the National Farmers Union, American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman, Jo Pierce with the Forest Climate Working Group, and Jason Grumet with Bob Dole and Tom Daschle’s Bipartisan Policy Center. Witness testimony and a link to the archived webcast of the hearing are posted on the Senate Ag Committee website http://agriculture.senate.gov/.
In support of Secretary Vilsack’s testimony, USDA released a preliminary analysis (see also below under USDA News) of the costs and benefits of the House-passed climate change legislation to farmers. The report concluded that over time farmers will see economic benefits from the agricultural offsets in the House-passed climate bill that will outweigh modest increased costs for energy and other inputs because of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions. Vilsack gave an upbeat assessment of the net impact of climate legislation on farm income. Both EPA Administrator Jackson and Dr. John Holdren laid out the threats to agriculture from rapid climate change.
Other highlights included Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) emphasizing that “early adopters” — those farmers that have adopted practices that will be eligible for offsets under climate change legislation before enactment of the legislation — will be eligible for offsets. The House-passed climate change bill provides eligibility to farmers who adopted practices as far back as 2001.
Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Mike Johanns (R-NE) expressed concern about how much pasture and cropland would be shifted by landowners into trees under a carbon offset market. Republican Senators also emphasized that farmers in some states would be able to benefit more from carbon offsets than farmers in other states and called for USDA to undertake a state-by-state analysis of the impact of proposed climate change legislation on farmers.
The Senate Agriculture Committee may hold another hearing in the first week of August before Congress breaks for recess. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) plans to bring a climate bill to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on September 8. Other committees with the right to hold their own markups will then have a few additional weeks to determine whether or not to also take separate action.
THIS WEEK
Food Safety Legislation Moves to the House Floor: The food safety bill (HR 2749) that was passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in June is expected to go to the floor of the House Tuesday afternoon for a final vote under “suspension,” meaning no amendments and very limited debate and two-thirds majority needed for passage are secure. Suspension of the normal rules is generally only used for uncontroversial bills.
HR 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, has attracted much criticism from sustainable and organic farming organizations because it includes provisions that could require a flat fee for small processors, including any farmers who do on-farm value-added processing if they sell mostly wholesale. The bill also requires farms to do extensive and expensive electronic tracing even if they sell only their own unprocessed products in the wholesale market. In addition, the bill does not specify the positive role that conservation practices can play to address food safety concerns, and also fails to provide guidance so that new food safety standards are harmonized with those specified in the Organic Foods Production Act.
On Thursday, July 24, Representatives Marcy Kaptur (OH), Sam Farr (CA-17), Maurice Hinchey (NY-22), Jess Jackson Jr. (IL-2), Peter Welch (VT-at large), Chellie Pingree (ME-1), and Earl Blumenauer (OR-3) submitted a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee with specific proposed changes to HR 2749 that address concerns raised by members of NSAC and the National Organic Coalition. Kaptur, Farr, Hinchey, and Jackson are all senior Democrats on the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, the group responsible for funding both the USDA and Food and Drug Administration each year, including all food safety matters. Negotiations between this team and the Energy and Commerce Committee have just started as we go to press.
The House Agriculture Committee has been negotiating for the past week with the Energy and Commerce Committee over the bill. As we go to press, the final results of that negotiation are not yet public. The press has widely reported comments by House Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) that he is seeking exemptions from the bill for livestock and grain. Representatives Jim Costa (D-CA) and Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) and others are also seeking changes on behalf of the specialty crop industry.
Senate Agriculture Appropriations: Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) announced this past week that the FY 2010 agricultural spending bill will come to the floor of the Senate sometime in the next two weeks.
The bill would increase funding significantly for the Value-Added Producer Grants, Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance, and Rural Coop Development Grant programs. It would also hold farm bill conservation programs at their farm bill funding levels, with the exception of a $270 million reduction for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
As we gather additional information, we will let readers know about any opportunities to support floor amendments to improve the bill.
Among our key concerns is the lack of a substantial funding increase for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program despite an overall healthy increase for research competitive grants in the bill. Importantly, the bill as passed by Committee would not provide funds to start the SARE state matching grant program.
The bill also fails to provide funding for two key beginning and minority farmer issues. The Office of Advocacy and Outreach created by the 2008 Farm Bill will coordinate USDA policy and outreach for small farm and beginning and minority farmer and rancher issues. USDA has requested $3 million to get the new office started, an amount that the House has approved but which is left out of the Senate bill. Also, the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account (IDA) program, championed by NSAC groups and authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill is also not funded, despite a $5 million request from USDA that we strongly support.
USDA NEWS
Business and Industry Stimulus Funds Start to Flow: On Friday, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the availability of $1.7 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds for Rural Development’s Business and Industry (B&) Guaranteed Loan Program.
The stimulus funds follow general B&I program rules with the exception that loan fees are reduced to one percent and there is no annual renewal fee. Guarantees are available for up to 90 percent of a loan and there is a simplified application for loans of less than $400,000.
USDA staff recommends that interested applicants submit their information as soon as possible because the approval process for the funds will be significantly more time-consuming than for general B&I funds. Applications will continue through September 15 of next year (2010) and all funds must be expended by September 30, 2010.
During the 2008 Farm Bill, NSAC was successful in adding language that mandates a five percent set-aside of B&I funds for businesses that help develop local and regional food enterprises. We are troubled USDA did not bother to highlight or even mention the local food system loans in the Federal Register notice. We are assured that local and regional food loans are nonetheless available, but the notice of funding availability would have been an ideal time to draw attention to the fact.
For more information contact Rick.Bonnet@wdc.usda.gov or call Rick Bonnet at 202-720-1804.
More on USDA Report on Climate Change Legislation: On Wednesday, July 22, USDA released a preliminary analysis of the House-passed climate change bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) which was presented by USDA Secretary Vilsack at a Senate Agriculture Committee the same day.
The analysis indicates that higher energy prices related to greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction measures would cause net farm income to fall by an average of $600 million per year–or about 0.9% per year–in 2005 dollars from 2012 to 2018. Over the long-term, the reduction in farm income, assuming no change in agricultural inputs and no change in technology or farm practices, would rise to $5 billion or 7.2 percent. Besides rising energy costs, one of the other reasons for the acceleration of costs over time is the fact the House bill would provide the fertilizer industry with generous emission allowances through 2024, so the analysis assumes those allowances disappear beginning in 2025.
On the other hand, grower revenues from carbon offsets in the cap and trade system could equal about $2 billion per year in the short-term and up to $28 billion per year over the long-term. USDA has not yet done an analysis of the cost to farmers of implementing the practices that would earn offsets, but nonetheless believes it is safe to assume that the revenue from agricultural offsets will rise faster than total costs.
The study has drawn criticism because it examined estimated economic impacts on corn, sorghum, barley, oats, wheat, rice, soybeans, cattle, hogs, broilers, turkey, eggs and dairy, and upland cotton but did not include any analysis of specialty crops. Higher value specialty crops account for about half of overall farm income. In addition, the analysis did not consider the economic impacts of incentives for agriculturally-based biofuels included in the Energy Policy Act of 2007 or that which may be folded into or accompany climate change legislation.
Weekly Update – July 13-17, 2009
Monday, July 20th, 2009
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
NSAC Releases Agriculture & Climate Change Position Paper: NSAC has finalized our climate change position paper entitled Climate Change and Agriculture: Impacts and Opportunities at the Farm Level. The paper details the superior performance of sustainable and organic agriculture systems in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and sequestering soil carbon. It provides detailed NSAC recommendations for implementing the 2008 Farm Bill to ensure that these systems are promoted and recognized for their ability not only to mitigate GHG emissions but to provide a number of other significant conservation benefits. Sustainable and organic agricultural systems also offer farmers the most resilience in coping with the changes in precipitation, pest regimes, growing seasons and other factors which may occur rapidly and in unpredictable ways in response to rapid climate change. No matter what policy framework is ultimately adopted for enlisting agriculture in GHG mitigation, sustainable and organic agricultural systems are the best that agriculture can offer.
LAST WEEK
House Agriculture Committee Hearing on Food Safety: On Thursday, July 16, the House Agriculture Committee held a hearing to address concerns with H.R. 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act, which recently passed the House Energy & Commerce Committee. The hearing began with testimony from eight individuals representing farm, processor, and consumer interests. A list of witnesses and their written testimony can be found here. The most widely-held concern by both witnesses and committee members was how H.R. 2749 might change or expand FDA’s role on the farm, especially with respect to livestock and grain operations. Sam Ives, representing the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, requested that the bill language “clarify that the FDA does not have regulatory authority on our farms, ranches or feedlots.” Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) pledged to meet with the Energy & Commerce Committee in order to clarify the relative roles of USDA and FDA in the bill.
Several issues related to NSAC’s food safety work were highlighted during the hearing. Kent Peppler, a fourth generation farmer representing the National Farmer’s Union, expressed concerns about the bill’s impact on small and midsize family farmers and on environmental conservation practices. Nick Maravell, an organic farmer with 170 acres in Maryland, testified that small and diversified farms and value-added operations have not been associated with major food safety issues and should be given “incentives, not barriers, to continue their growth.” He noted that organic standards already require strong food safety measures and detailed recordkeeping, and that an additional program would be “cost and time prohibitive.” Both Peppler and Maravell spoke out against the $500 facility registration fee, respectively deeming it “woefully deficient,” and “fundamentally unfair.” Representative Jeff Fortenberry (D-NE), who said he had been contacted by a number of concerned farmers before the hearing, including organic farmers, echoed Maravell’s concerns about the registration fee, burdensome traceability requirements, and the jurisdiction of FDA.
The second part of the hearing featured testimony from Jerold Mande, Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety at USDA, and Mike Taylor, Senior Adviser to the Commissioner at FDA. Taylor stated that there is “nothing new” about FDA’s role on the farm, highlighting regulation of animal drugs and shell eggs as examples. He pointed out that farms are exempt from registration and fees, but failed to recognize that many farms also qualify as facilities, which are required to pay the fee. Taylor faced some grilling from committee members as to why FDA would be the best agency to develop and regulate on-farm performance standards. Chairman Peterson emphasized that the bill should require FDA to consult with USDA.
Senate EPW Committee Climate Change Hearing on Ag & Forestry: On Tuesday, July 14, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing on Economic Opportunities for Agriculture, Forestry Communities, and Others in Reducing Global Warming Pollution. The focus of the hearing was to consider the role of agriculture in providing offsets for industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the costs to agriculture if the costs of energy and agricultural inputs increase because of measures to reduce GHG emissions. The witnesses included Bill Hohenstein, Director of USDA’s Global Climate Change Program; Fred Krupp, Executive Director of the Environmental Defense Fund; Bob Stallman, President of the American Farm Bureau Federation; and a principal advisor to the mega-mining company Rio Tinto.
Stallman and the Republican members of the Committee argued that the costs of required GHG emissions reductions in the House-approved American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) would be too high for the agricultural sector. Hohenstein and Senate Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chair of the Committee, countered that even if there are higher energy costs, farmers would benefit economically when other sectors whose GHG emissions are capped seek offsets from farmers. The archived webcast of the hearing and witness statements are posted here.
Senate Agriculture Committee Announces Subcommittees and Members: Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Ranking Member, Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) announced new Subcommittee Chairs and membership last week. What was formerly known as the Nutrition and Food Assistance, Sustainable and Organic Agriculture, and General Legislation Subcommittee has been reborn as the Subcommittee on Hunger, Nutrition and Family Farms, chaired by Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Senator Brown’s staff reached out to NSAC several weeks ago to say that they look forward to working with member organizations on a variety of issues. For a complete list of subcommittee membership please go to http://agriculture.senate.gov/
THIS WEEK
Senate Agriculture Committee Hearing on Agriculture and Climate Change: The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday, July 22 from 1-3 pm on The Role of Agriculture and Forestry in Global Warming Legislation. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack is a confirmed panelist as are: Bob Stallman, President of American Farm Bureau; Roger Johnson, President of the National Farmers Union; Jo Pierce, tree farmer from Maine representing the Forest Climate Working Group; Jason Grumet, President of the Bipartisan Policy Center; Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; and John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology.
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), chair of the Committee has indicated that he will take as a starting point for his Committee’s contribution to Senate climate change legislation the agricultural provisions in the House-approved American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454), but he also plans to modify those provisions. A link to the live webcast of the hearing will be available on the Committee’s website http://agriculture.senate.gov/.
USDA NEWS
$760 Million Now Available for Direct Farm Ownership and Operating Loans: On Wednesday, July 16, Secretary Vilsack announced the availability of $760 million for Direct Farm Ownership loans and Operating loans through the Supplemental Appropriations Act. $400 million has gone to state offices for direct operating loans, which may be used to purchase livestock, feed, seed, equipment, chemicals, insurance and other operating expenses. $360 million is available for direct farm ownership loans, which can be used to buy farmland, promote soil and water conservation and repair or construct buildings. Farmers interested in applying for loans should visit their local FSA offices.
Reminder – Organic Research Funds Available, Deadline July 24: Last month, USDA-CSREES released the RFA for the Integrated Organic and Water Quality Program (IOWP). IOWP combines the Organic Transitions and the National Integrated Water Quality Programs. Approximately $2.5 million is available for projects that enhance water quality in organic systems or explore changes in water quantity and/or quality associated with organic farming. The program solicits research, education and extension projects of up to $220,000 per year (projects may last 1-3 years). The application deadline is July 24.
NRCS Makes Amendment to WHIP Rule and Reopens Comment Period: On Wednesday, July 15, the Natural Resources Conservation Service announced in the Federal Register that it had amended the Interim Final Rule for the Wildlife Habitat Quality Incentives Program to include a broader definition of “agricultural land” for the purposes of WHIP. Comments are solicited to this amendment and must be made by August 14.
NRCS Awards FY 2009 Conservation Innovation Grants: On Monday, July 13, the Natural Resources Conservation Service announced the award of $18.4 million to 55 recipients of Fiscal Year 2009 Conservation Innovation Grants (CIGs). The CIGs are competitive grants funded through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. They are intended to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies. Non-Federal governmental or non-governmental organizations, Tribes, or individuals are eligible to apply for CIGs.
Six of the grants were awarded for projects in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, including an award to NSAC member the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, which is partnering with The Food Alliance to introduce The Food Alliance sustainable agriculture certification program in Pennsylvania.
Four of the awards focus on pollinators, including two awards to the Xerces Society. In addition, six grants, valued at $1 million, were awarded to assist Native American tribes and limited resource producers address natural resource issues, energy efficiency, and market-based approaches to conservation. A full list of the awards in posted on the CIG website.
Obama Administration Rural Tour Dates and Locations:USDA is encouraging participation in the Obama Administration’s “Rural Tour” this summer and fall and has stated that questions will be welcomed on any relevant subjects, not just those listed as the primary topic for the day.
Upcoming Rural Tour community forums:
AUGUST 12 – Secretaries Tom Vilsack Steven Chu, Shaun Donovan, Arne Duncan, and Ken Salazar will travel to Bethel, AK, to discuss rural infrastructure, green jobs and a new energy economy, as well as climate change.
AUGUST 16 – Secretaries Tom Vilsack and Ken Salazar will travel to Zanesville, OH, to discuss green jobs and a new energy economy, with a focus on renewable energies.
AUGUST 17 – Secretaries Tom Vilsack and Arne Duncan will travel to Hamlet, NC, to discuss rural education.
SEPTEMBER 28 – Secretaries Tom Vilsack and Ken Salazar will travel to Scottsbluff, NE, to discuss production agriculture.
SEPTEMBER 30 – Secretaries Tom Vilsack and Shaun Donovan will travel to Las Cruces, NM, to discuss rural infrastructure.
information about the Tour can be found at www.ruraltour.gov or by emailing Jennifer.Yezak@osec.usda.gov.
EPA NEWS
Next Meeting of EPA Farm, Ranch & Rural Communities Advisory Committee: The next meeting of the EPA Farm, Ranch & Rural Communities Advisory Committee will be in Sacramento, CA. This will be the first meeting with the new EPA Agriculture Counselor Larry Elworth.
The purpose of the FRRCC is to provide advice to the EPA Administrator on environmental issues and programs that impact, or are of concern to, farms, ranches, and rural communities. The meeting will include: (1) discussion of the impacts of Agency agriculture-related programs, policies, and regulations regarding climate change and renewable energy; (2) identification and development of a comprehensive environmental strategy for livestock operations; and (3) development of a constructive approach or framework to address areas of common interest between sustainable agriculture and protection of the environment.
The open meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 25, 2009, from 8:30 a.m. (registration at 8 a.m.) until 6 p.m., and Thursday, August 27, 2009, from 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. A copy of the meeting agenda, including times for public comments, will be posted here. On August 26, the Committee members will go on a farm tour organized by EPA Region 9. NSAC Senior Policy Associate Martha Noble is a member of the Committee. Please contact her at mnoble@sustainableagriculture.net for more information.
EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Confirmed: Last Friday, July 10, by voice vote the U.S. Senate confirmed Peter S. Silva as EPA Assistant Administrator for Water. Silva is a civil engineer with 32 years of experience in water and wastewater treatment. Most recently he served as a policy advisor to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, one of the nation’s largest public water suppliers. Silva’s confirmation had been put on hold by Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), who wanted to meet with him to discuss EPA’s oversight of Army Corps of Engineers’ permits allowing mountaintop removal by coal companies.
DULY NOTED
Environmental Working Group Analysis of House Climate Change Bill: The Environmental Working Group has issued an analysis of the House-approved climate bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R.2454). The report notes two major flaws with the House bill’s provisions for agricultural offsets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from other sectors: 1) the legislation allows polluters to take credit for meeting their required pollution reductions by paying farmers not to put new conservation practices in place, but simply to keep doing what they were already doing, and 2) the legislation provides no guarantee that key conservation practices that are generating credits for polluters will actually stay in place over the long-term. This analysis, along with EWG recommendations for improving the role of agriculture in reducing GHG emissions, is available on the EWG website.
Researchers “Reach Consensus” on Biofuels: After a year of high-profile controversy on the role of biofuels in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, high-profile scientists have published an article in Science (link requires subscription) with recommendations for how to balance emissions reduction, food security and biofuel production. Biofuels, they conclude, must come from five major sources of renewable biomass: crop residues, double crops and mixed cropping systems, perennial plants grown on degraded lands abandoned from agricultural use, sustainably harvested wood and forest residues and municipal and industrial wastes. For a summary, click here.
Capitol Hill CAFO Briefing Available Online: The Clean Water Network has made available the June 5th Capitol Hill Briefing on the environmental and public health impacts of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). The online archive includes presentations from NSAC’s Senior Policy Analyst Martha Noble, Keeve Nachman PhD from Johns Hopkins University, and Eric Schaeffer with the Environmental Integrity Project.
Proceedings from USDA Local Food System Workshop Now Online: The proceedings from the June 26 Local Food System Workshop organized by the Economic Research Service at USDA is now available online. NSAC Policy Director Ferd Hoefner presented at the workshop where he provided a list of the key research tasks that will be needed to inform policy discussions on local and regional food for the next several years.
Farm and Food Policy View From Above: Popular blog U.S. Food Policy uses stunning images from Google Maps to show how food and farm policies affect our landscape and natural resources. Click here to visit the world’s largest pork slaughterhouse, the heartland of Iowa, phosphate strip mines in Florida, and other destinations of interest. U.S. Food Policy is authored by Parke Wilde, Associate Professor at the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
Weekly Update – July 6-10, 2009
Monday, July 13th, 2009
NSAC FARMER FLY-IN
On Tuesday and Wednesday, July 7 and 8, NSAC hosted a group of twenty farmers and representatives from NSAC member organizations for its annual appropriations and budget fly-in. By a stroke of timing luck, the FY 10 appropriations bill was being voted on by the full House and going through markup in the Senate Appropriations Committee at the same time that fly-in participants were making visits to legislative offices (see outcome of the appropriations debate in related story below).
In addition to Hill visits to discuss the FY 10 appropriations priorities (which included the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program, Value-Added Producer Grant program, Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program, the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account program, and ATTRA), fly-in participants also discussed Farm to School with key legislators and met with high-level officials at USDA to discuss the FY 11 budget and new initiatives in research, conservation, marketing, and rural development to advance sustainable agriculture systems.
A round of thanks goes out to the wonderful group of farmers from AR, MO, GA, CT, PA, IA, WI, and CA that took time out of being in the field to meet with legislators and USDA staff in Washington, DC and to the member organizations that helped make it happen: Michael Fields Agriculture Institute, Organic Farming Research Foundation, Center for Rural Affairs, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Izaak Walton League, Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, and the Rural Advancement Foundation International – USA.
LAST WEEK
House Passes Its Ag Appropriations Bill: On Thursday, July 9, the House approved the FY 2010 agriculture spending bill (HR 2997) by a vote of 266-160. The bill is notable for substantial increases in funding for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) feeding program, food and drug safety, and international food assistance.
Five amendments were adopted on the floor, including measures to increase funding for the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) by $2 million to a total of $82 million and increase the NRCS conservation technical assistance budget by $5 million to a total of $874 million. All of the increases for these and other amendments were paid for by decreasing various USDA salary and benefits line items.
As part of a Managers amendment by Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), $500,000 was added on behalf of Rep. Holt (D-NJ) for USDA’s Office of Inspector General to investigate the integrity of the organic label, including whether non-organic substances are being inappropriately allowed to remain in products labeled organic after organic alternatives have become available. Though no specific funding was provided, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) did engage in a floor colloquy with DeLauro to emphasize the importance of funding the Organic Data Initiative when the bill gets to conference.
Senate Committee Approves Ag Appropriations Bill: On Tuesday, July 7, the full Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the FY 2010 agricultural appropriations bill. Like the House, the bill features significant increases for WIC, international food aid, and food safety.
NSAC Appropriations Chart: — As always, for readers who want all the details, our regularly updated appropriations chart is available here.
Conservation — Also like the House bill, it limits cuts to farm bill mandatory programs to a $270 million cut to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and a zeroing out of small watershed dam rehabilitation money. This is in marked contrast to last year’s Senate bill, which included wide ranging farm bill cuts, and to the Obama budget request, which proposed to slash farm bill conservation spending very significantly. The Senate bill also provides $899 million for conservation operations and technical assistance, $25 million more than the House bill and $46 million more than FY 09 levels.
Rural Development — Working with the advantage of a modestly higher total funding allocation than the House Committee had available, the Senate bill includes some very important increases in rural development and research. The Senate bill, in contrast to the House bill, would fully fund the Obama funding request levels for the Rural Microenterpreneur Assistance Program ($22 million in addition to $4 million in farm bill direct funding), Value-Added Producer Grants ($22 million), Rural Coop Development Grants ($14 million), and Rural Energy for America Program ($68 million in addition to $60 million in farm bill direct funding). The ATTRA sustainable agriculture information service program received a $200,000 bump up in the Senate bill, to $2.8 million.
Research — On the research side, the Senate bill generally increased formula funding for land grant universities by the same or slightly more than the House bill. More significantly, the Senate bill came close to reaching the $300 million funding level requested by many agricultural research advocates for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), the new replacement for the old National Research Initiative and the Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems. The Senate number is $295 million, $83 million more than the House and $94 million more than the Obama request and current FY 09 level.
Sadly, the big increase in AFRI competitive grants funding did not translate over nearly as strongly into competitive grants programs for sustainable agriculture, organic agriculture, and Integrated Pest Management. The Senate bill would increase funding for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program by $238,000 to $19.2 million. While the House bill increases the integrated organic program funding from $1.8 million to $5.0 million, the Senate bill holds it constant. For the various IPM research and extension accounts, the Senate bill proposes an increase of $772,000 to a combined total of $30.6 million.
In percentage terms, the Senate bill increases AFRI by 46 percent, IPM by 2.6 percent, and sustainable agriculture by 1.3 percent. With the exception of organic, the House bill leaves all of those accounts level at current funding.
Credit and Beginning Farmers — Both the House and Senate bills fund direct and guaranteed farm ownership and operating loans at the Obama requests levels, which are significantly higher than FY 09 levels via regular appropriations, but significantly lower than actual FY 09 levels inclusive of emergency funding added to the programs via the recovery and the supplemental appropriations bills. There is every reason to expect that increased funding will be needed by next spring via another supplemental to meet increased demand stemming from the financial crisis and declining income in some ag sectors.
Neither the House nor Senate bills funds the farm bill’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account program, a NSAC priority. We will continue to explore ways to get this innovative approach to new farm starts off the ground as the bill moves to conference.
Office of Advocacy and Outreach — Shockingly, the Senate bill does not propose to fund the new Office of Advocacy and Outreach at USDA, while the House bill does include the $3 million requested by the Department. The office will coordinate USDA policy and outreach activities for small farms, beginning farmers and ranchers, minority farmers, and farmworkers. On the Senate side, the office was a priority in the farm bill for Senators Feingold and Harkin. We will be working with those offices and looking to find ways to ensure it receives funding in the final bill.
Senate Kicks Off Action on Climate Change Legislation: On Tuesday, the Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee began Senate action on climate change legislation with a hearing whose witnesses included the Secretaries of Agriculture, Energy and the Interior and the EPA Administrator. The Senate will be crafting a comprehensive climate and energy bill by combining elements from the House-passed H.R. 2454 – the American Clean Energy & Security Act – and contributions from other Senate Committees.
The EPW Committee has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, July 14 on Economic Opportunities for Agriculture, Forestry Communities, and Others in Reducing Global Warming Pollution and the Senate Agriculture Committee will hold its on climate bill hearing on Wednesday, July 22 at 2:30 EST. You can link to a video feed of the hearing from the Committee’s webpage at http://agriculture.senate.gov/.
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee has gone on record supporting the measures for agriculture of the House-approved Act, included after negotiations between House leadership and House Agriculture Committee Chair Collin Peterson (D-MN). These measures include putting USDA in charge of the agricultural offsets for cap-and-trade framework, creating a new financial climate conservation assistance program funded through an allowance for agriculture, assuring that 1 billion gallons of soy biodiesel will not be subject to greenhouse gas emission standards, and barring EPA for five years from using international indirect land use changes in its determination of the carbon footprint for biofuels.
Senator Harkin has indicated that he wants to improve some of those provisions and add a measure that would allow farmers to “stack” GHG offset benefits from land enrolled in USDA conservation programs. Other Senate Agriculture Committee members playing key roles on the agricultural measures include Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).
Consistent with the NSAC Policy Council’s recent decision to elevate our involvement with the climate bill as it moves to the Senate, NSAC this week submitted initial recommendations on the ag-portions of the bill to the Agriculture Committee and will follow with a communication to Senators in the coming weeks.
The timeline for Senate passage of climate change legislation is still a moving target. Late this week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that he would like to have a bill completed before international climate change negotiations commence in Copenhagen in December, although other Senators opined that having a complete bill in hand would suffice for the negotiation. Senator Reid also pushed back until September 28 a deadline for Senate Committees with jurisdiction over the bill to complete their portion of the bill.
In response, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chair of the EPW Committee, is delaying markup of comprehensive climate change legislation until after the August congressional recess. We assume that also means the unveiling of her bill, originally set to occur in the next week or two, will now also wait for early September.
Child Nutrition Act Extension: Senate Ag Committee Chair Tom Harkin (D-IA) said on Tuesday that he will seek a short-term extension to the child nutrition programs set to expire on September 30, 2009. The Child Nutrition Act includes the school food programs, Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Summer Food Service Program.
NSAC is working in close alliance with the Community Food Security Coalition, Farm to School Network, Wallace Center, School Food Focus, and others to win $10 million a year in mandatory funding for the Farm to School program as part of the reauthorization.
Both Harkin and House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) continue to say the reauthorization is a top priority and action may start in October, but given the press of health care, climate change, financial reform, food safety and appropriations legislation, many observers now feel that action in early 2010 is perhaps more likely.
The White House has not issued a child nutrition act statement since much earlier this year when it proposed a billion dollar a year increase for the programs as part of its budget proposal. Other than the press of major urgent legislation in the congressional queue, money is the biggest obstacle right now to getting the act reauthorized. The Obama proposal to fund an increase through cuts to farm commodity payments was considered deal on arrival on Capitol Hill, though some more targeted farm program cut could still possibly be in the mix. Other contenders for “pay-go offsets” for the bill include education loan program reform and possibly tax loophole closings.
White House Food Safety Working Group Announces Key Findings: On Tuesday, July 7, Vice President Biden along with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced specific steps they are going to take to advance the core principles outlined on the Working Group website. The steps include the creation of tougher standards to protect consumers from salmonella, increased enforcement of beef facilities, new FDA guidance to improve safety of leafy greens, melons, and tomatoes, a new national traceback and response system, and the creation of new positions at food safety agencies.
Michael Taylor Appointed to FDA Post: Two days after the President’s Food Safety Working Group presented their new line of defense on foodborne pathogens, the Food and Drug Administration announced that Michael Taylor will begin a new position as senior advisor to FDA’s commissioner, Margaret Hamburg. Taylor has played the revolving door dance for quite some time with previous stints at FDA, Monsanto, and USDA (and Monsanto again). Most recently, he has been a professor at George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Health Services.
THIS WEEK
Antibiotic Resistance Hearing: On Monday, July 13, Margaret Mellon, program director of the Food and Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), an NSAC member, will testify at a House Rules Committee hearing on the growing public health threat of antibiotic-resistant diseases. The committee hearing is on The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (HR 1549), a bill introduced by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) that would require the FDA to review antibiotics used in animal agriculture to determine their public health risk and withdraw from the market those drugs that cannot be shown to be safe. There will not be live video streaming for the hearing but you can access Dr. Mellon’s testimony on the UCS website.
USDA NEWS
Dairy Announcement Promised Soon: On Monday, July 6, USDA Secretary Vilsack said that within a few weeks he will be announcing financing help for struggling dairy farmers. Under consideration are lower-interest operating loans, reducing principle on existing loans, or delayed loan repayment terms.
New USDA Appointees Announced: Slowly but surely, Secretary Vilsack is filling in missing slots among key USDA political appointee positions. Announcements made last week include:
Natural Resources and Environment, Deputy Under Secretary — On Wednesday, July 8, Vilsack named Ann Mills as Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment. Mills has most recently worked at American Rivers. As a senior staff person for Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, Mills directed the Senate office and was involved with the senator’s work on agricultural and natural resource management issues. Mills also worked for California Lieutenant Governor Leo McCarthy and then-Congressman Richard Durbin. Mills holds a Masters Degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, and a BA in Political Science from Tufts University.
The other NRE Deputy Under Secretary (for Forest Service issues), Jay Jensen, has been on the job for a while, but still unfilled is the NRE Under Secretary position. It was filled for a short while by Homer Wilkes, who subsequently resigned.
Risk Management Agency, Administrator — On Thursday, July 9, Vilsack named William J. Murphy as Administrator of USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA). Murphy served as RMA Acting Administrator during the transition to the Obama Administration. Before that, he served RMA as the Deputy Administrator for Insurance Services; Director of the Regional Office in Davis, CA, overseeing crop insurance operations in California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii; and Director of the Western Region Compliance Office. He is a native of Pennsylvania and received a B.S. in Agronomy and Farm Management from Pennsylvania State University.
Farm Service Agency, Administrator — On Thursday, July 9, Vilsack named Jonathan Coppess as Administrator for the Farm Service Agency, replacing Doug Caruso, who resigned from the position this week to return to his native Wisconsin. Caruso left abruptly, and was quoted in the press saying: While I believe USDA leaders and I share the same goals, we clearly have divergent views on how to accomplish those goals. Good people with the same goals and objectives can and will differ on tactics. Those differences made me a bad fit for the position and, given that reality, the most constructive thing I could do was step aside to make way for USDA leaders to appoint someone more in synch with their vision.
Coppess was until this week FSA Deputy Administrator, and previously worked for Senator Ben Nelson as his Legislative Assistant for Agriculture, Energy and Environmental policy. He joined Senator Nelson’s staff in February 2006, after practicing law in Chicago for four years. Coppess grew up on his family’s corn and soybean farm in west-central Ohio. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and a law degree from The George Washington University Law School.
Food Safety, Deputy Under Secretary — On Thursday, July 9, Vilsack named Jerold R. Mande, M.P.H., as Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety at USDA. In this position, Mande will have responsibility for the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the USDA agency responsible for inspecting meat, poultry, and processed egg products. Most recently, Mande served as Associate Director for Public Policy at the Yale Cancer Center at the Yale University School of Medicine. Prior to this, Mande served on the White House staff as a health policy adviser. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Occupational Health at the Department of Labor. He also served as Senior Advisor and Executive Assistant to the Commissioner of the Food and Drug and Administration, where he led design of the Nutrition Facts food label. Mande began his career in Congress, where he was first hired to work on food safety legislation. Mande holds a Masters Degree in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Science Degree, magna cum laude from the University of Connecticut at Storrs.
Still unnamed is the Under Secretary for Food Safety and the Administrator for FSIS.
Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Director — On Wednesday, July 8, Vilsack named Dr. Rajen Anand as Executive Director of the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, the Center tasked with the development of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans – currently being reviewed and revised by its Advisory Committee – and the MyPyramid food guidance system. Anand joined the Center in 1995 as its Deputy Director and became Executive Director in 1997. Prior to his work at USDA and in the interim, he served as professor of physiology for 30 years, including 6 years as department chair at California State University, Long Beach. A graduate of the University of California, Davis, Anand holds a doctorate in human physiology, nutrition and biochemistry and a second doctorate in veterinary medicine.
Research, Education and Economics, Counselor to the Under Secretary — On Friday, June 10, Vilsack named Rachael Goldfarb as counselor to the Under Secretary for REE. Most recently, Goldfarb served as Special Assistant to the President of the Global Health Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Goldfarb served in the Clinton White House, first as Assistant to the Policy Staff at the National Economic Council and then as Assistant to John D. Podesta, the Chief of Staff to President Clinton. Following the end of the Clinton administration, Goldfarb was named Special Assistant to the Chairperson of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She received her Juris Doctor from Penn State University, where she served as Managing Editor of the Penn State International Law Review.
Research, Education and Economics, Senior Advisor for Energy and Climate — On Friday, July 10, Vilsack named Maura O’Neill as Senior Advisor for Energy and Climate for REE. O’Neill served most recently as chief of staff for Senator Maria Cantwell. She has founded four companies, is on the faculty of UC Berkeley, served on local, state, utility and non-profit policy committees. In 1987 she was one of the North American Representatives to the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Energy Efficiency and Utility Industry. O’Neill has also served on the National Panel on Energy and Employment Policy. O’Neill graduated with a BA from the University of Washington. She received MBAs from both Columbia University and the University of California at Berkeley. She completed her PhD at the University of Washington.
Research, Education and Economics, Senior Advisor for International Affairs — On Friday, July 10, Vilsack named Ann Tutwiler as Senior Advisor for International Affairs at REE. Previously, she was advisor on International Trade for the Africa Bureau’s Sustainable Development group at USAID. Before joining USAID, she was Managing Director, Agricultural Markets, for the Global Development Program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, where among other duties she managed a substantial number of grants related to the 2007-8 farm bill campaign. Tutwiler has also served as president and chief executive officer of the International Food & Agriculture Trade Policy Council, and played a major role in the development of the 1996 Farm Bill’s “freedom to farm” commodity title. She was Director of Government Relations for the North American oilseed crushing and corn refining companies of Eridania Beghin-Say. She has served on the board of the International Fertilizer Development Council and the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa. Tutwiler received a degree in political science from Davidson College and a Masters in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
DULY NOTED
Agriculture Committees – To Be or Not to Be: For your summer reading amusement, we note that a dialogue occurred this week over whether or not there should be congressional agriculture committees between Washington Post reporter and blogger Ezra Klein and DTN reporter and blogger Chris Clayton. Follow the bouncing ping pong ball from point to counterpoint to rebuttal.
Weekly Update – June 29-July 2, 2009
Monday, July 6th, 2009
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Clean Water Network MS River Basin Caucus and NSAC State Technical Committee Workshop: On Monday afternoon July 20, NSAC is co-hosting a NRCS State Technical Committee Workshop with the Izaak Walton League of America in Minneapolis, MN. The Workshop will provide information on how farmers, ranchers, and grassroots organizations can participate in State Technical Committees and Local Working Groups — the advisory committees to NRCS State Conservationists that provide critical recommendations and guidance on how Farm Bill conservation programs are rolled out at the state level.
The Workshop will include presentations on the 2008 Farm Bill conservation programs and how they can be used to improve water quality and protect wetlands and other aquatic habitats in the Mississippi River Basin. There will be an additional Tuesday morning session before the two-day Mississippi Regional Caucus gets underway that will allow additional people coming to the Caucus to learn about the NRCS State Technical Committees and Local Working Groups and meet Workshop participants who are staying for the Caucus.
For additional information on the NSAC State Technical Committee Workshop, contact Martha Noble mnoble@sustainableagriculture.net. For information about the Clean Water Network Upper Mississippi Regional Caucus, go to the Caucus Registration website.
NEXT WEEK
Ag Appropriations in House and Senate: In a rare double header, the House agricultural appropriations bill for FY 2010 will be going to Rules Committee on Tuesday, July 7 and then to the floor later in the week, the same day (and possibly the same hour) as the full Senate Appropriations Committee will be marking up its version of the bill. Look for a short special report on the Senate bill next Wednesday, and a full report in next week’s regular edition. Also, by coincidence, NSAC is hosting a farmer fly-in next week on budget and appropriations issues, which we will also report in next week’s edition.
Senate Committee starts in on Climate Bill: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will launch its effort to pass climate change legislation by holding a hearing on Tuesday, July 7. Testifying will be three Administration officials: EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Chairwoman Barbara Boxer hopes to markup a bill just before the Senate leaves on its annual August recess. She would therefore introduce the bill to be marked up sometime earlier in July.
Majority Leader Reid intends to debate the package on the floor later in the fall, combining it with energy legislation coming out of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Reid has given four other committees, including Agriculture, until September 18 to produce any additions to the package within their respective jurisdictions.
The NSAC Policy Council has decided to make work on portions of the agriculture section a priority for this summer and fall.
USDA NEWS
First Batch of State RD and FSA Directors Named: On Thursday, July 1, USDA announced the first group of White House selected State Rural Development Directors and State Farm Service Agency Directors. The highly sought after political appointments are made at the start of every new Administration. We are told there will be another batch coming out next week.
Rural Development Directors were named for the following eighteen states: AK, CO, HI, ID, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MS, MT, NE, NY, OK, PA, TX, VA, and WI. Paragraph length bios of the new directors for most of these states can be viewed here and for CO, ID, and KS can be viewed here.
FSA Directors were named for the following twenty-one states: AK, CO, DE, HI, ID, IL, IN, KS MA, MI, MN, MS, MT, NE, NY, OK, PA, TX, VA, WA, WI. The bios for these appointees can be viewed here and for CO, ID, and KS here.
Vilsack Leads Obama’s “Rural Tour”: On Wednesday, July 1, Vice President Biden and USDA Secretary Vilsack kicked off a national tour to discuss how the Obama Administration can better serve rural communities. Over the next three months, Vilsack and other top Cabinet officials will hold public forums in Wisconsin, Virginia, Louisiana, Alaska, Ohio, North Carolina, Nebraska, and New Mexico. The opening discussion, held in Wattsburg, PA, centered on the issue of rural broadband internet access. Other topics to be discussed on the tour include economic development, healthcare, green jobs, climate change, education, and production agriculture. To read about the tour and view the schedule, click here.
Several journalists have pointed out that several of the scheduled stops target politically competitive districts at the congressional and presidential level.
Unclear at this point is whether this rural tour is in addition to or instead of the Rural Summit meeting that candidate Obama promised during the campaign would occur in Iowa at the outset of his first year in office.
USDA Issues Interim Final Rule for the Conservation Reserve Program: On Monday, June 29, USDA issued an interim final rule (IFR) for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) intended to implement the CRP provision in the 2008 Farm Bill. USDA will be taking comments on the IFR until August 28, 2009. The Federal Register announcement with instructions on submitting comments is posted here.
Among the changes that the IFR makes to CRP are: an expansion of the Farmable Wetlands Program to include open, earthen, freshwater fish production systems and constructed wetlands developed to provide nitrogen removal in row-crop drainage areas; a requirement that landowners have a plan for CRP management activities; and application of the 2008 Farm Bill payment limitation and adjusted gross income requirements for conservation programs.
Sadly missing from the IFR are the rules to implement the 2008 Farm Bill’s CRP transition option for beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. We hope to be able to report soon that an IFR will be issued on that important provision within the next few months.
NRCS Reopens FRPP Comment Period: On Thursday, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) issued a correction to the Interim Final Rule for the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP) and reopened the comment period on the entire IFR, as amended, until August 3, 2009. NRCS is also asking for public comments on selected program implementation questions included in the notice. The Federal Register notice with instructions for submitting comments is posted on the web here.
The correction to the IFR clarifies that the right to enforce a conservation easement granted to the U.S. under the FRPP is a condition placed on the award of financial assistance under the FRPP and does not constitute an acquisition of real property by the U.S.
EPA NEWS
EPA Extends Comment Period on Revision of Renewable Fuel Standard: On Tuesday, June 30, EPA announced that it is extending the comment period on the revision of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) by 60 days to September 25, 2009. The notice of the extension is posted with other information on the EPA’s RFS webpage.
Under the Energy Security and Independence Act of 2007, Congress directed EPA to evaluate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of various renewable biofuels to ensure that the biofuels meet criteria for reduction of GHG emissions. If a biofuel does not meet the criteria, blenders cannot get a tax credit for blending it with gasoline or fossil fuel diesel. EPA’s proposed regulation for the revised RFS included GHGs from indirect international land use changes, which would knock corn ethanol and a fair amount of soy biodiesel out of eligibility for the tax credits. In the recently-passed House climate change bill, a provision was added to prohibit the use of indirect international land use changes in evaluating renewable biofuels.
In addition to giving the public more time to submit comments on the proposal for revising the RFS, the extension will also give the incoming EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation, Regina McCarthy, more time to explore the issue. Last week, EPA announced that she and Margo Oge, Assistant Administrator for Transportation and Air Quality, have accepted an invitation from Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to go to Iowa in early September and see the impact their agencies have on farmers and agriculture.
WTO NEWS
WTO & UNEP Report on Trade and Climate Change: Last Friday, June 26, the WTO and the United Nations Environment Program released a report, entitled Trade and Climate Change, that suggests trade restraints in the form of import taxes may be necessary to help stop climate change. More generally, the view put forward was that border taxes on goods from countries that fail to meet environmental standards may be permitted as exceptions to global free trade rules, provided they are not really protectionist measures in disguise.
Ironically, the report was issued just days before President Obama issued a statement opposed to import tax provisions, aimed at countries that do not impose greenhouse gas restrictions, contained in the House-passed climate change bill.
The report also considers energy efficiency laws and public subsidies for greening industry, concluding that if carefully crafted to combat climate change rather than protect domestic industries, they too could be consistent with international trade rules.
DULY NOTED
GE Crop Trend Data: On Friday, July 2, USDA’s Economic Research Service released a data product that summarizes the extent of adoption of GE varieties of corn, beans, and cotton for the period from 2000-2009.