With action on a farm bill postponed to next year, the Senate Agriculture Committee turns to handling a pair of nominations, including a new undersecretary for rural development at the Agriculture Department.
The committee holds a confirmation hearing Thursday for Basil Ivanhoe Gooden to take the USDA post vacated by Xochitl Torres Small when she took over in July as deputy secretary, the department’s No. 2 position.
Gooden, who has a doctorate in social work from the University of North Carolina, was Virginia agriculture secretary from 2016 to 2018 and has been directing state operations for USDA Rural Development for the past two years.
The committee also will consider the nomination of Summer Mersinger to a new term on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The former aide to Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., was chief of staff to then-CFTC member Dawn Stump before joining the commission in 2022.
Ahead of the Thanksgiving break, Congress passed a continuing resolution that extends the 2018 farm bill for one year and keeps the government funded at fiscal 2023 levels into early 2024. That CR removed the urgency of completing a new farm bill and finishing fiscal 2024 appropriations legislation in December, but lawmakers still have other pending business in coming weeks, including a possible supplemental spending bill for Ukraine and Israel.
Meanwhile this week, USDA is promising a decision by its self-imposed deadline Thursday on whether to continue and even expand the use of higher line speeds in pork processing plants. The National Pork Producers Council is pressing the department to expand a pilot program that has its roots in a concept developed by the Clinton administration more than two decades ago.
The Trump Administration originally approved a new swine inspection system in 2019 that included the allowance for higher line speeds, but a federal judge in March 2021 blocked the efficiency measure. USDA subsequently started to allow six processing plants to use the higher speeds on a trial basis, setting Thursday’s deadline for announcing whether the test would continue or be expanded.
A recent analysis by the Senate Agriculture Committee's Republican staff found that nearly 40% of the U.S. supply of hogs is produced within 100 miles of one of the six plants, which are located in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania.
“Absent a permanent solution or an extension of the current Time-Limited Trials, affected pork processors will have to reduce their operational capacity, which reduces demand for hogs, delivering an economic blow to farmers who are raising hogs during the worst economic environment in more than 20 years,” the GOP analysis says.
Also this week, USDA will release its latest forecast for U.S. farm income and its updated Agricultural Trade Outlook.
In August, USDA estimated that net farm income this year would total $141.3 billion, a 25% drop from 2022 when adjusted for inflation but still 22% above the 20-year average for farm earnings.
Net cash farm income, a measure of cash flow, was estimated at $148.6 billion for this year, a 28.9% decline from the inflation-adjusted record of $209 billion set in 2022.
Cut through the clutter! We deliver the news you need to stay informed about farm, food and rural issues. Sign up for a FREE month of Agri-Pulse here.
USDA’s August trade outlook projected that U.S. ag exports would total $172 billion for fiscal 2024, a $5.5 billion decline from FY23, which ended Sept. 30. The estimated decline was largely the result of expected declines in exports of soybeans, soybean meal and dairy products.
Meanwhile, the U.S. ag trade deficit was projected to grow for FY24, rising $3 billion to $199.5 billion, as Americans bring in more horticultural and livestock products from overseas markets.
Here is a list of agriculture- or rural-related events scheduled for this week in Washington and elsewhere (all times EDT):
Monday, Nov. 27
4 p.m. – USDA releases weekly Crop Progress report.
Tuesday, Nov. 28
Wednesday, Nov. 29
10 a.m. – House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing, “America Leads the Way: Our History as the Global Leader at Reducing Emissions,” 2123 Rayburn.
10 a.m. – Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the Water Resources Development Act and Army Corps of Engineers project partnership agreements, 406 Dirksen.
Thursday, Nov. 30
8:30 a.m. – USDA releases Weekly Export Sales report.
10 a.m. – Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on the nominations of Basil Gooden to be USDA’s undersecretary for rural development, and Summer Mersinger to be reappointed to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 328A Russell.
10 a.m. – House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing, “Oversight of President Biden's Broadband Takeover,” 2123 Rayburn.
11 a.m. – USDA releases updated Farm Income Forecast.
3 p.m. – USDA releases updated Agricultural Trade Outlook.
Friday, Dec. 1
For more news, go to Agri-Pulse.com.
