The White House has revealed some details of the hunger and nutrition conference that’s planned for Wednesday.
Ahead of the conference, the White House intends to reveal a national strategy to meet the twin goals of eliminating hunger and reducing diet-related diseases by 2030.
The conference will begin with an overview of the strategy and then feature a series of panel discussions on the strategy and the five conference pillars, which include ensuring all Americans can afford the food they need with thoughts on nutrition and health. The afternoon will feature meetings of small working groups that will discuss ways to individually and collectively meet the conference’s goals.
Stacy Dean, USDA’s deputy undersecretary for food and nutrition programs, says the department will be announcing actions in the coming weeks and months to follow through on the strategy.
“The work we do today will influence the future of our country and the health and well-being and wellness of hundreds of millions of people,” Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services, said of the conference.
Take note: Agri-Pulse and the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City will host their annual Ag Outlook Forum today in Kansas City. Speakers and panelists will include USDA’s chief economist, Seth Meyer; former House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn.; Kip Tom, former U.S. ambassador to the UN food programs; and Kanlaya Barr, director of corporate economics for John Deere.
For more on this week’s agenda in D.C., read our Washington Week Ahead.
USDA raises food inflation forecast
USDA economists now estimate supermarket prices will be up 10.5% to 11.5% this year, reflecting continued increases in food costs. The new forecast is a half-percent higher than USDA’s estimate in August.
USDA has raised inflation forecasts for eggs, fats and oils, cereals and bakery products, and non-alcoholic beverages. The department has trimmed its inflation estimates for beef and poultry products by a half percent.
By the way: USDA continues to forecast more normal inflation in 2023, estimating that grocery prices will rise a more normal 2% to 3%.
Agencies release roadmap for SAF development
The Biden Administration laid out its plans for scaling up Sustainable Aviation Fuel production Friday, which include increasing production of “energy crops” and collecting more agricultural residuals.
In a new report titled the “Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge Roadmap,” several agencies wrote that research and development are needed on how to produce and collect more biomass resources. The report specifically calls for “coordination of U.S. government support” for oilseed cover crops and other near-term lipid crops.
The roadmap is a collaboration by the departments of Energy, Agriculture and Transportation, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration.
EPA decision to withdraw interim glyphosate decision met with criticism
The Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to delay until 2026 its next registration decision for glyphosate is being criticized by environmental groups involved in litigation with the agency.
In June, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit vacated the human health portion of EPA’s registration review decision and noted that under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, the agency was facing an Oct. 1 deadline to make a final registration decision.
On Friday, the agency said it now would issue a new decision in four years. EPA plans to “revisit and better explain its evaluation of the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate and to consider whether to do so for other aspects of its human health analysis.” EPA also must complete an ecological risk assessment.
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Because the June interim decision “is an informal adjudication that EPA issued at its discretion, EPA may withdraw all or a portion of it without public comment,” the agency said.
But Center for Food Safety attorney George Kimbrell, who represents groups that brought the suit in the appeals court, called EPA’s decision “irresponsible.” “I don't understand how they still can affirm its safety for human health when the assessment upon which that determination rests, or rested, has now been set aside,” he said.
Bayer issued a statement saying the decision “has no effect on the registration of glyphosate or Roundup products, nor does it change the conclusions the EPA has repeatedly reached regarding the safety and non-carcinogenicity of these products.”
NCGA to introduce next president
Tom Haag, a corn and soybean farmer in Eden Valley, Minn., will become the next president of the National Corn Growers Association on Oct. 1, taking over from Chris Edgington. The farm group wants to introduce him to the public, so it will be holding a virtual meeting on Oct. 4, where Haag will make a presentation and then will “answer any questions you may have,” says NCGA.
“This will be an opportunity to get to know Tom better and get his perspective on NCGA’s goals, mission, and strategy which help family farmers,” the group said in a statement. “He will outline his priorities for the coming year and address the latest issues impacting corn farmers.”
He said it: “With the launch of a new national program office, we are embedding environmental justice and civil rights into the DNA of EPA and ensuring that people who’ve struggled to have their concerns addressed see action to solve the problems they’ve been facing for generations.” – EPA Administrator Michael Regan, at an event in North Carolina Saturday announcing the creation of a new office at the agency to address EJ issues.
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