Editor’s note: Monday is the federal holiday for Juneteenth. Daybreak will return on Tuesday.
Republicans are looking to stop California and other states from imposing regulations on agriculture that affect farms nationwide. Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall and nine other GOP senators have introduced the Exposing Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act, which they would like to see included in the next farm bill.
Keep in mind: Congress has long been reluctant to preempt state regulations. A notable exception was 2016, when Congress agreed on legislation that shut down what was a growing patchwork of state GMO labeling laws. The compromise legislation required disclosure of biotech food ingredients but allowed companies to do so electronically.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, says the Supreme Court’s majority opinion upholding California’s Proposition 12 essentially left it to Congress to decide whether states should be allowed to impose regulations that affect farming practices outside their borders. But speaking on this week’s edition of Agri-Pulse Newsmakers, Grassley acknowledged the EATS Act faces opposition from animal-welfare advocates.
“I think they have a lot of support in the Democratic Party,” Grassley said of those groups. “But I would think that this is so important to Midwestern agriculture, and even southern agriculture, that we don't want to encourage 49 other states to do what California did and set up all these barriers to trade.”
By the way: Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, calls the EATS Act “a shocking threat to animals, consumers, workers, the environment and states’ rights.”
Newsmakers will be available today at Agri-Pulse.com. Read our report this week on how the U.S. pork industry is handling the California market.
Single senator holding up USDA nominee
Xochitl Torres Small continues to wait for a final Senate vote on her nomination to be deputy agriculture secretary.
The top Republican on the Senate Ag Committee, John Boozman of Arkansas, says one senator, whom he didn’t identify, still has a hold on the nomination. Boozman says the hold is unrelated to the job performance of Torres Small, who is currently USDA’s undersecretary for rural development.
Measures lay out specialty crop farm bill priorities
Specialty crop producers are backing legislation to ease grower access to disaster relief and create a mechanization and automation program at the Agriculture Department. The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance wants to see the two pieces of bipartisan legislation in the upcoming farm bill.
“The establishment of a Specialty Crop Mechanization and Automation Research and Development Program within the USDA will provide critical support for our growers on how best to use technology to solve one of the most pressing needs of our industry,” Western Growers President and CEO Dave Puglia said.
The disaster bill would lift an income eligibility limit for growers who get at least 75% of their earnings from farming.
USTR: Promoting democracy and transparency can trump tariffs
While foreign tariffs are damaging to U.S. ag exports, opaque and unfair barriers created by undemocratic nations with non-market economies can be even more harmful – especially to smaller-sized producers, according to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
She said Thursday at an event hosted by the Open Markets Institute that trade policy can help promote democracy, which benefits U.S. exporters.
Small U.S. farming and ranching operations “have told us that their biggest challenge is not necessarily tariffs, but whether they can access a foreign market at all, often because of a lack of transparency in how rules are administered,” Tai said. “So, we are focused on making it easier for small businesses to participate in trade.”
Mexico, Japan bolster US corn trade
The U.S. exported about 1.2 million metric tons of corn from June 2-8, largely due to strong shipments to buyers in Mexico and Japan, according to the latest weekly data from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. U.S. exports for June 2-8 were down about 4%, but the data showed continued strong demand from key markets.
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The U.S. shipped 367,000 tons to Mexico and 304,500 tons to Japan.
Keep in mind: The U.S. recently started USMCA dispute proceedings against Mexico for its restrictions on imports of genetically modified white corn. The ban doesn’t directly impact GM feed corn, but the Mexican government wants to eventually replace it with non-GM grain.
Republicans target BLM conservation leasing rule
The Bureau of Land Management is pushing back against a House GOP proposal that would block a proposed rule allowing BLM to enter into 10-year conservation leases with third-party entities. Critics worry the leases would reduce the amount of land available for other uses, including grazing.
BLM’s principal deputy director, Nada Wolff Culver, said in written testimony for a hearing Thursday that the bill introduced by Utah Rep. John Oliver would “unnecessarily interfere with the rulemaking process.”
Take note: BLM has extended the public comment period for the proposed rule by 15 days.
BLM initiates post-2026 Colo. River guideline process
The Bureau of Reclamation says it’s starting work on an environmental impact statement for the development of post-2026 operational guidelines for lakes Powell and Mead on the Colorado River.
A number of agreements guiding water cuts for the Colorado River are set to expire at the end of 2026, and multiple states will need to come together to agree to a new set of guidelines.
The agency will hold virtual public meetings on July 17, 18 and 24, according to a Federal Register notice.
Read our report this week on the post-2026 challenges.
He said it. “The House is the House, and they get to do what they want.” – Sen. John Boozman, a GOP member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, on the House GOP plans to fund FY24 spending bills at levels below the caps set by the debt ceiling agreement.
Senate appropriators plan to adhere to the caps. “Then at some point, we're going have to get together and hash out the differences,” Boozman said. The Senate committee plans to release its FY24 Agriculture bill next week.
Bill Tomson, Steve Davies and Noah Wicks contributed to this report.
