Federal News
Rural Puerto Rican communities continue to be underserved by U.S. agencies
Ag Policy | Posted on December 26, 2017As we write this column in the week before Christmas 2017, it has been nearly three months since category 5 Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017. Unlike the Texas coast which was drenched with rainfall from Hurricane Harvey that just weeks earlier was measured in feet, some 40 percent of the island still is without electrical power and damage to major roads and bridges makes many communities on the island difficult to reach with most of those in rural areas. According to Refugee International, “the U.S. response remains too slow and bureaucratic.” They point out that “the initial deployment of the US military was insufficient – for example, it paled in comparison to the magnitude of the US military response surrounding the Haiti earthquake in 2010” and Puerto Rico is a part of the US with the residents holding US citizenship.
EPA: Glyphosate Unlikely Carcinogenic
DTN | Posted on December 26, 2017The herbicide glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans. That is the conclusion reached by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in its draft risk assessment released this week. The assessment is set for a 60-day public comment period early in 2018. The EPA said in a news release this week that a proposed interim registration review decision for glyphosate is set for publication in 2019. That decision would propose a variety of mitigation steps to reduce glyphosate risks, if measures are needed. EPA said it also conducted an "in-depth review" of the glyphosate cancer database.
USDA seeks applications for conservation grants
USDA | Posted on December 26, 2017USDA is offering grants for innovative ideas for conservation strategies and technologies. USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) plans to invest $10 million in the Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program, funding innovative conservation projects in three focus areas: grazing lands, organic systems and soil health. Grant proposals are due Feb. 26, 2018. "Conservation Innovation Grants play a critical role in developing and implementing new methods to help our customers conserve natural resources, strengthen their local communities, and improve their bottom lines," said Rob Johansson, Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation. "Today's announcement supports our efforts to help producers build economically-strong and resilient farms and ranches by providing producers tools to utilize across their working farmlands.”
No, agriculture won't be quiet, Mr. Ross
Ag Web | Posted on December 23, 2017As the NAFTA negotiations have stalled, farmers and ranchers in Canada, the United States and Mexico have grown increasingly concerned that this free trade deal is in jeopardy. They’ve been voicing their concerns, to the point where U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross argued U.S. agriculture groups and farmers were complicating the NAFTA trade negotiation process by speaking up, basically telling the farm community to be quiet. “As one special interest group, say agriculture, for example, gets nervous, they start screaming and yelling publicly. They start writing letters, soliciting the Congress people, and [then] they start screaming and yelling in public. It just complicates the environment and, frankly, makes the negotiations harder,” said Ross, as reported by Politico a few weeks ago. Really Wilbur? Essentially Wilbur Ross is saying “trust us.”Ross has even made comments trying to downplay the significance of agriculture, saying “they’ve just got to get used to the fact that they’re a minor part of the economy and that trade policy isn’t going to be constructed around their interests.”Does Wilbur Ross have no clue how many jobs are created by agriculture and food industries in the U.S. and the rest of the NAFTA region? Congrats to U.S. agriculture stakeholders for not taking Mr. Ross’s comments seriously, and in fact, raising their volume.
Pennsylvania: Agriculture Department Offers Training to Help Farms Produce Food Safely, Prevent Foodborne Illness
NASDA | Posted on December 21, 2017Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding today announced that the department will sponsor a series of training programs across the state to help farmers grow produce safely, prevent foodborne illness, and comply with new federal standards. The series of one-day training sessions will be held between January and March at seven different locations throughout the state.
Farm Structure (2017), and Evolving Distribution of Government Farm Payments (1991-2015)
Farm Policy News | Posted on December 21, 2017The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS) has recently released two separate reports that provide interesting perspective on the structure of U.S. agriculture. The firstprovides a detailed overview of current statistics relating to U.S. farms, while the second highlights the evolving distribution of Federal farm payments (1991-2015). This update underscores key findings from the two recent ERS reports.
FDA Provides Information on the Use of Medically Important Antimicrobials in Bees
FDA | Posted on December 21, 2017The FDA is announcing the availability of a Question and Answer document about the use of medically important antimicrobials in bees to provide helpful information to beekeepers and veterinarians. The Q&A titled “Using Medically Important Antimicrobials in Bees” responds to some commonly asked questions about the appropriate use of approved Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) and prescription (Rx) drug products for bees. In January 2017, the FDA and animal drug sponsors completed the voluntary process of transitioning medically important antimicrobial drugs used in animal feed or water from over-the–counter (OTC) marketing status to VFD or Rx marketing status under FDA’s Guidance for Industry (GFI) #213. This marked an important step forward in national efforts to address the use of medically important antimicrobials and promote antimicrobial stewardship in animals. Certain medically important antimicrobial drugs affected by this process are approved for use in bees. As a result, beekeepers have raised questions about how the changes affect them.
USDA proposes withdrawing organic animal welfare rule
Meat + Poultry | Posted on December 21, 2017The US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a proposed rule to withdraw the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices final rule. OLPP was published on Jan. 19, 2017. The grounds for the proposed withdraw are that the rule exceeded the USDA’s own rule-making authority. The OLPP rule was to set welfare standards in organic agriculture and was widely supported by the organic industry as well as animal welfare, environmental, and consumer organizations, according to a statement from Friends of the Earth. Lisa Archer, Director of the Food and Agriculture Program at Friends of the Earth, issued a response directed at the current administration:
Witnesses assess US biosecurity infrastructure as inadequate
Agri-Pulse | Posted on December 21, 2017Senate Agriculture Committee members can’t say they weren’t warned. A panel of witnesses spoke to the committee on Wednesday and all essentially delivered the same message: the current defense against pests, pathogens, and biosecurity threats to the food system needs work.“If you were an enemy of the United States and wanted to strike us, nuclear weapons always get the most attention because they’re so terrifying to everybody, but when you think about the damage that would be done to our economy, to our country, to our people, it would create a real sense of terror if somebody successfully attacked with a pathogen our agriculture sector,” former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, co-chair of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, told the committee.
President Trump To Address Farm Bureau Members
Ag Web | Posted on December 21, 2017President Donald Trump will address farm and ranch families from across the nation at the 99th Annual Convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation. The convention will be held January 5th through the 10th in Nashville, Tenn.