Federal

President Donald J. Trump issued his fiscal year 2018 federal budget blueprint today, calling for a drastic reduction in spending on agriculture and rural related agencies and programs. Lamenting further cuts being proposed for agriculture, National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson issued the following statement: “Family farmers and ranchers are currently enduring the worst farm economy in well over a decade and an inadequate safety net that is hamstrung by $23 billion in budget cuts. [node:read-more:link]

more than 120 military veterans working and investing in the ethanol industry sent a letter to President Trump last week, urging him to include a prominent role for ethanol and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) in his “America First Energy Plan.”  According to the letter, “many of us have witnessed firsthand the dangers of our reliance on oil imports from hostile and unstable parts of the world. We share your belief that the United States can and must do more to insulate itself from the negative impacts associated with oil import dependence and OPEC manipulation. [node:read-more:link]

The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has yet to issue any public notices of fines for violations so far this year, although officials told The New York Times that enforcement actions are still under way.  OSHA has not posted any news releases covering rule enforcement fines on its website, a major shift from activity under the Obama administration, when the agency issued an average of about 460 news releases per year, the paper reported. [node:read-more:link]

The White House 2018 budget requests $5.7 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency, a savings of $2.6 billion, or 31 percent, from the 2017 annualized continuing resolution (CR) level. The President’s 2018 Budget:  Discontinues funding for the Clean Power Plan, international climate change programs, climate change research and partnership programs, and related efforts —saving more than $100 million for the American taxpayer compared to 2017 annualized CR levels. [node:read-more:link]

U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) have introduced new bipartisan legislation to give top U.S. agriculture and food officials permanent representation on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.  The “Food Security is National Security Act of 2017” also would include new agriculture and food-related criteria for CFIUS to consider when reviewing transactions that could result in control of a U.S. business by a foreign company. [node:read-more:link]

Environmental groups are asking the Scott Pruitt-led U.S. [node:read-more:link]

The first impact of President Donald Trump’s changes to U.S. immigration policy will fall on businesses that grow, process or sell food. Recent history shows that labor shortages could drive up prices and labor costs, and hurt profits.  Little attention is being paid to the threat to food prices from a drop in immigrant labor. What is known so far is generally anecdotal and regional. But the impact of a nationwide hit to the supply of workers could be large. Food price increases, which have been low, would boost already accelerating inflation. [node:read-more:link]

Agriculture leaders including lawmakers from President Donald Trump's Republican Party criticized his planned 21 percent cut to discretionary spending at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), saying it could take a toll on the rural communities that helped elect him last November.  Trump has proposed slashing the USDA's discretionary budget by $4.7 billion to $17.9 billion by halting funding for rural clean water initiatives and rural business services, reducing some USDA statistical services and cutting county-level staff. [node:read-more:link]

Swallowing just a few drops of a new vaccine could protect against the deadly Ebola virus. The new immunization is not meant for humans, but chimpanzees and gorillas, for which Ebola is a devastating disease as well. Yet the vaccine may never reach these great apes. Further tests are all but impossible because of new ethical rules, the researchers charge.  Ebola is best known as a killer of people, but the virus also causes epidemics in wildlife. [node:read-more:link]

President Donald Trump has proposed eliminating an international food aid program, halting funding for clean water initiative in rural areas and reducing county-level staff for a 21 percent drop in discretionary spending at the Agriculture Department, according to a White House budget document. The proposal would save $498 million by eliminating a rural water and wastewater loan and grant program, which the White House proposal said was duplicative. The program helps fund clean water and sewer systems in communities with less than 10,000 people. [node:read-more:link]