THE SENTIMENT
BEHIND THE JEERS ON SNAP CONCEPT:
The hostility among some 1,200
anti-hunger advocates was palpable on Monday as Brandon Lipps, the USDA's top
nutrition official, started discussing the department's "America's
Harvest Box" concept. Boos and
mocking laughter erupted. At least 20
people walked out in protest during the National
Anti-Hunger Policy Conference in Washington, report
Pro Ag's Catherine Boudreau and Helena Bottemiller Evich.
Those expressions demonstrate how
motivated anti-hunger advocates - including food bank officials, community
organizers and nutrition policy experts - are to fight back against the Trump
administration's attempts to trim the social safety net.
Lipps, who serves as both
administrator of USDA's Food and Nutrition Service and as acting deputy
undersecretary of food, nutrition and consumer services, calmly welcomed the
feedback, however expressed. "Your boos are welcome, but so are your
good ideas," Lipps said. "Please talk to us. All new ideas require
dialogue."
McGovern stirs up
the opposite reaction:
Rep. Jim
McGovern (D-Mass.) was received by loud applause and a standing ovation
as he lambasted Republicans for trying to pay for their priorities on the
backs of low-income Americans.
He encouraged the audience to
oppose the House version of the next farm bill -- which he has yet to see --
if it includes large cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
and other feeding programs. House Agriculture Chairman Mike
Conaway has said he intends to unveil the legislation in the coming
weeks.
"We'll be in a position to write a better farm bill
after November,"
McGovern said, suggesting that Democrats may be able to take control of the
House after the midterm elections.
Today's action:
Many of the advocates will spend
the day on Capitol Hill fighting cutbacks to food stamps and other aid
programs.
HAPPY TUESDAY, FEB.
27!
Welcome to Morning Ag, where your
host will head to Mexico City later this week for the
seventh round of NAFTA talks. Anything specific you want to hear
about the negotiations? News and tips to share? Send my way: srodriguez@politico.com
or @sabrod123.
Follow the whole team at @Morning_Ag.
USDA SHAKES UP
DIETARY GUIDELINES PROCESS:
We know, we know, you cannot
believe it's already time for Dietary Guidelines. The 2015 round was so
brutal with the public fights. We can't believe it, either.
But on Monday, USDA formally kicked
off the discussion for 2020 (which is already behind schedule) by switching
up the process a bit: The agency is outlining the topics ahead of time and
opening them up for comment immediately.
What's happening
now:
The Dietary Guidelines, updated
every five years, set nutrition policy for the federal government, including
billions of dollars in nutrition programs.
An outside panel of experts, known
as the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, is usually assembled before
topics and questions are set, but this time around, the order will be
reversed. The administration has named its own
topics and questions before seeking nominations for the panel.
Why the change-up:
The shakeup comes after a bitter
battle over the last update, which included high-profile battles over
sustainability and meat recommendations. After the fallout from the last
go-around, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
reviewed the process and made
recommendations for how to make it more "trustworthy."
Administration officials said they
were making the change to improve transparency and engage the public earlier
in the process. It remains to be seen how the change-up will be received by
public health advocates, especially because it's not clear how selecting the
topics ahead of time will ultimately affect the outcome, if at all. More from
Helena here.
FOOD SAFETY TALK
WILL BE AT END OF ROUND 7: Negotiators from the U.S., Canada and Mexico will leave
discussions on the almost-complete chapters until the last days of the
seventh round of NAFTA talks, according to an official schedule obtained by
POLITICO, yours truly reports. Last month, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso
Guajardo said those chapters - food safety, digital trade and
telecommunications - were about 90 percent complete. The working group on
sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures, which governs rules on food safety and
animal and plant health, will meet on Sunday, March 4.
Other meetings of
interest:
Most of the groups will meet for
two days, including those on labor, energy and environment. Agriculture also
met for two days, Sunday and Monday.
Unexpected rules of
origin change:
Discussions on automotive rules of
origin were postponed after the chief U.S. negotiator for that policy area
left the round to return to Washington. The U.S. lead was headed back to the
U.S. "for consultations" and talks on the subject would be
rescheduled, a source told
Pro Trade's Megan Cassella. It's
unclear whether the talks on rules of origin will resume in this round or be
delayed until later next month, but the policy issue had been expected to be
a major topic of discussion during the round.
The wrap up:
The top trade officials - U.S.
Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Guajardo and Canadian Foreign
Minister Chrystia Freeland - will meet on Monday, March 5. More from your
host here.
SENDING
OUT AN RFS TO THE WORLD
(WITH APOLOGIES TO
STING):
Today's the big day for corn
farmers, oil refineries, and their champions in the Senate. Sens. Pat Toomey,
Ted Cruz, Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley will meet with President Donald Trump
and his top advisers to see if there's some kind of deal to be struck in the
Renewable Fuel Standard.
What's on the
table:
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue met Monday with Trump to offer a package
of changes that would include creating biofuel credits for exported ethanol,
a cap on credit prices, a waiver for 15 percent ethanol gasoline blends, and
some transparency measures. Few details were forthcoming from that meeting,
though Pro Energy hears they made progress toward a deal they hope corn can
accept.
Drawing the line:
Toomey is strongly backing
administrative action by EPA to tweak the regulations. "I would support
legislation that would deal with it, but [administrative action] would be
much quicker," Toomey told reporters.
Gang Grain has
never been into this idea:
Grassley and ethanol producers rejected the credit cap
proposal months ago. As for farmers, a group of six farm groups - National
Corn Growers Association, National Association of Wheat Growers, American
Soybean Association, National Sorghum Producers, American Farm Bureau
Federation and National Farmers Union - joined together in a Monday letter
to ask Trump to not weaken the RFS, highlighting it as a crucial support for
farm economies.
Carper backs RIN
fix:
The top Democrat on the Environment
and Public Works Committee, Sen. Tom
Carper, told our Pro Energy colleagues that he would support a move to
make the RIN market less volatile and more transparent. but said he wasn't
sure if it could be done administratively. Fixing the RIN market, Carper
said, would "not do harm to the Renewable Fuel Standard" but would
"frankly help a number of refineries." Carper's Delaware
constituents work for the plants claiming damage from the RFS, including the
now-bankrupt Philadelphia Energy Solutions.
ROW CROPS:
- Supreme Court
won't hear water transfer rule challenge: The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear challenges to
a 2008 EPA rule that allows water managers to transfer supplies between lakes
and reservoirs without pollution control permits, even if the transfer moves
dirty water into a pristine basin. Western states that heavily rely on such
transfers had been watching the rule closely, Pro Energy's Annie Snider reports.
- Brady: Trump knows he must work
with Congress on NAFTA: President Donald Trump knows he must pay
attention to concerns from Congress to win approval on a revised NAFTA deal,
House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin
Brady said Monday. The Trump administration has made a number of
proposals that seem to be aimed at attracting Democrats' votes but have little
support from Republican lawmakers. He will lead a bipartisan congressional
delegation to Mexico City later this week for the NAFTA talks. Pro Trade's
Doug Palmer has more.
- California must
stop pesticide spraying:
California agricultural officials have been ordered by a state judge to stop
spraying pesticides on public and private property to control insects that
threaten the state's $45-billion agriculture industry, the Los Angeles Times writes.
Farmers and property owners will still be allowed to use chemical
insecticides.
- American farmers
take on more jobs outside the farm: As most U.S. farm households cannot solely rely on farm
income, more farmers are taking on side jobs in rural business and
manufacturing, The Wall Street Journal reports.
With the slump in commodity crop prices over the last five years, 82 percent
of U.S. farm household income is expected to come in from off-farm work this
year, according to the USDA.
- Food companies
weigh price hikes over higher transport costs: Some companies in the food,
consumer goods and commodities sectors are considering raising their prices
in the wake of rising transportation and delivery costs, Reuters reports.
Companies like General Mills and Tyson Foods are weighing price increases,
which could soon mean higher costs for consumers on chicken, cereal and
snacks.
- Trump criticizes
WTO judges: Trump
lashed out at the World Trade Organization, complaining inaccurately that the
world trade body seldom rules in favor of the United States. Trump, speaking
at a White House meeting with 39 U.S. governors, did not mention any specific
cases, but U.S. trade officials have long complained about a number of
rulings against American anti-dumping regulations. More from Doug here.
- Changes at
DowDuPont: DowDuPont's
agriculture division will be renamed Corteva Agriscience when it is spun off
with DuPont Crop Protection, DuPont Pioneer and Dow AgroSciences to become a
standalone agriculture company. The spinoff is expected by June 1, 2019, and
headquarters will be in Wilmington, Del. More from Farm Futures here.
- Russian food
exports up: Thanks
to exports of wheat, frozen fish and sugar, Russian food exports jumped 25
percent last year to $19 billion. Half the world's countries buy wheat from
Russia, the world's top wheat exporter, which has been offering harvests at
appealing prices, Bloomberg reports.
- From Vegan mayo
to Liberia: Hampton
Creek (recently renamed Just) is launching a fortified cassava porridge
product in Liberia, The Washington Post reports.
- Inhumane farmworker housing:
The U.S. Department of Labor found that Future Ag Management, a California
farm labor contractor, was housing 22 workers in overcrowded living
conditions infested with insects, and with water unsafe for human
consumption. Future Ag will pay $168,082 in penalties, The Fresno Bee writes.
- More controversy
over Cornell's Wansink: BuzzFeed
has a new deep dive alleging shoddy research practices by Brian Wansink, an
influential Cornell University researcher on consumer behavior and nutrition.
Read the latest here.
To view online:
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-agriculture/2018/02/27/anti-hunger-groups-to-mobilize-on-snap-116869
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