A farm bill for the ‘many and most’

With help from Doug Palmer and Meredith Lee Hill

QUICK FIX

— Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says he wants a farm bill for the “many and most,” and calls on Congress to see the “wisdom” of the spending it appropriated in recent stimulus bills.

— Top ag trade officials in the Agriculture Department and U.S. Trade Representative urged diversification away from reliance on China.

— Congressional hearings this week will tackle IRA conservation programs and the infamous Waters of the United States definition.

HAPPY MONDAY, Feb. 27. Welcome to Morning Ag. I’m your host, Marcia Brown. Send tips to [email protected] and @Marcia_Brown9, and follow us @Morning_Ag.

Driving the day

STUMP FOR THE FARM BILL: Historically, USDA takes an advisory role during farm bill negotiations, making requests for funding. And of course, this is hardly Vilsack’s first rodeo. At a press conference last week, Vilsack said he hopes that congressional leaders will see the “wisdom” of boosting existing USDA programs and even making some new programs permanent. Specifically, he would like to see a farm bill for the “many and most.”

“I don’t think it’s my place to establish a line in the sand. I think it is important for us to work collaboratively together,” Vilsack said of his relationship with Congress. He pointed to last year’s statistics, where farm income set yet another record high. But those numbers hide a dire reality.

Ninety percent of farmers are either not making money on the farm or “not making the majority of the money that they have for their family from farming suggests the need for us to continue to look for ways to create new revenue sources and income opportunities for farmers,” Vilsack told reporters at a press conference last week at USDA’s 99th annual Agricultural Outlook Forum. USDA’s agenda, as Vilsack has laid out, includes boosting markets for ethanol, including for sustainable aviation fuel; finding new energy markets for farm waste including methane; and growing value-added opportunities, such as developing a premium for climate-smart products. It’s not the first time Vilsack has made a similar appeal.

Critics say that while USDA officials may be talking a big game, some of the department’s recent spending contradicts their objectives of lifting small and mid-sized producers. For example, environmental and some farm groups have objected to the majority of spending in the Climate-Smart Commodities pilot program going to large companies instead of small family farms.

With so few bills likely to move this Congress, many advocates are seeking to make the farm bill their tool of choice to advance their agenda. One union, for example, wants to make the farm bill a labor bill. Environmental groups see the farm bill as a cornerstone of any federal climate agenda, such as by making permanent the pandemic cover crop program.

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TREADING SOFTLY ON CHINA AG: The United States needs to develop as many new agricultural markets as it can, but that doesn’t mean giving up on China, its No. 1 market last year, because of a risky overreliance, top U.S. trade officials said Thursday.

“Do we not expend resources there because of the potential for closure?,” chief agricultural negotiator Doug McKalip said during a discussion at USDA’s annual Agricultural Outlook Forum. “To me, that doesn’t really compute.”

Gimme five: Despite current tensions between the U.S. and China, the Asian heavyweight will likely be a top tier export market for U.S. farm goods for at least the next five years, added Alexis Taylor, USDA undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs.

“So we have to invest in that relationship and have to spend time working on market access issues that our products are experiencing to make sure our products can get into that market with as little hurdles as possible,” Taylor said.

China imported slightly more than $36 billion worth of U.S. farm goods in fiscal 2022, which ended Sept. 30, accounting for about 19 percent of U.S. agricultural exports. USDA forecasts fiscal 2023 ag exports to China slightly lower at $34 billion, but will still be the top market.

Diversification push: U.S. farmers were caught in the crossfire during the Trump administration, when Beijing retaliated against new U.S. tariffs by imposing duties on U.S. farm goods. That vulnerability shows “we need to be diversifying,” even as we “continue to invest in the Chinese market and the relationship there,” Taylor said.

She and McKalip described how the Biden administration was trying to do that through broad initiatives such as the proposed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, and one-on-one work with individual countries to bring down trade barriers.

Record ag trade deficit: USDA also forecast the United States to run a record $14.5 billion agricultural trade deficit in fiscal 2023. Read more about that here.

At a panel last week with EU Ag Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski, Vilsack described how both agricultural leaders must meet demands to boost the exports of their farmer constituents while satisfying trading partners — adding a perennial complication to trade relations.

“How do we explain to our producers at home, that by opening up a market to a competitor’s product, that somehow someway, that’s actually going to be a benefit to them? That’s not an easy argument to make to farmers,” Vilsack said at the annual Agricultural Outlook Forum
CONSERVATION ANGST: Natural Resources Conservation Service Chief Terry Cosby, Forest Service Chief Randy Moore and Farm Service Agency Administrator Zach Ducheneaux will testify to senators on Wednesday.

Republicans have previously expressed concern over how much ad hoc disaster relief to farmers the federal government has provided. They may seek to design a more permanent option for farmers.

At last week’s Agricultural Outlook Forum, officials touted the benefits of the Climate-Smart Commodities program and the funding from the Inflation Reduction Act for USDA’s conservation programs. Expect Republicans to put that money under a microscope at this hearing, especially as USDA begins to roll out the funds. Rising costs for federal nutrition programs may further complicate these negotiations.

The Forest Service has struggled to hire enough people to confront a worsening fire season. Despite a significant bump in spending, they may still face labor problems.

House Ag Committee holds its first full committee hearing Tuesday as farm bill season kicks into high gear, focusing on inflation, uncertainty and regulations. House Ag Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) has held listening sessions across the country to prepare to lead the committee, the first time Republicans have controlled it since 2018.

WOTUS Woes: Also on Tuesday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will consider a resolution condemning the Biden administration’s latest iteration of the Waters of the United States rule.

SAVE THE IRA CONSERVATION MONEY: More than 600 organizations — including businesses, farms and environmental groups — signed a letter to congressional agricultural leaders urging them to safeguard the roughly $20 billion in conservation spending appropriated in the Inflation Reduction Act. “Robust agriculture conservation funding benefits all parts of the country,” the groups wrote.

Row Crops

— Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) have reintroduced legislation to halt imports of Brazilian beef after a strain of mad cow disease was previously found in the country. Brazil has already halted exports to China. When the senators introduced the bill in 2021, the Biden administration rebuffed their calls, arguing it could draw retaliation against American beef exports.

— A USDA program to provide debt relief to economically distressed borrowers — created after a program originally tailored for Black farmers fell victim to legal challenges — may be leaving some Black farmers behind, NPR’s Ximena Bustillo writes.

— A sweeping New York Times investigation found migrant children working throughout numerous levels of the food supply chain, from harvesting crops to packaging well-known snacks. Other migrant children work in factory jobs making clothing and auto parts. The report comes weeks after the Labor Department released the results of an investigation that revealed children working for a meatpacking sanitation company that contracts with Tyson, Cargill and JBS USA.

— MA caught up with Thérèse Coffey, U.K. secretary of state for the environment, food and rural affairs earlier this month. Pros can read the interview here.