Karen Morrison, a longtime scientist at the Department of Pesticide Regulation, is scheduled to engage in her first public hearing as director next week.
The State Board of Food and Ag has invited Morrison to speak about the department’s new web platform for issuing alerts to residents ahead of pesticide applications, which launches in March. Known as SprayDays, the pesticide notifications will be the central focus of the four-hour hearing next Tuesday.
Ag commissioners and pest control advisors will also weigh in on the controversial new system. The board has reserved time for public comment as well. The push-pull continues to play out between farmers and environmental advocates. Growers worry the limited public data is enough for protestors to seek out the farms and block applications, potentially endangering themselves. Advocates say the one-mile radius for alerts is overly broad.
CDFA Secretary Karen Ross is celebrating SprayDays, saying the state “continues to lead the way in providing transparency within our food system.” Board President Don Cameron acknowledged that “producing food is not easy and it’s a costly endeavor,” due to “ever-increasing standards and requirements.” But he praised farmers for continuing to meet consumer expectations.
USDA announces private partnership to increase California fuel breaks
Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a partnership with Sierra Pacific Industries – a lumber manufacturer – to pour $75 million into construction and maintenance of fuel breaks in California and Oregon national forests.
Over three years the agreement will help develop the construction and maintenance of 400 additional miles of California-based fuel breaks, with locations informed by the U.S. Forest Service and CALFire. Rollins promised the initiative would halve the time it typically takes to conduct this type of mitigation effort.
UCANR scientist explains possible repercussions of NOAA layoffs
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the UCANR California Institute for Water Resources, shared a letter on Thursday raising concerns that firings at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would lead to loss of life and harm the economy.
The key pressure point Swain brought up was that the private sector cannot make up for the current responsibilities shouldered by the NOAA and the National Weather Service, such as emergency weather warnings and day-to-day weather forecasting.
“I want to be clear: If there were to be large staffing reductions at NOAA and NWS … there will be people who die in extreme weather events and weather-related disasters who would not have otherwise,” Swain wrote.
USDA anticipates larger ag trade deficit in FY2025
A U.S.-UK deal won’t be easy to do, but farm groups would welcome any progress on new agreements. USDA forecast Thursday that the ag trade deficit would widen to $49 billion for fiscal 2025. That’s more than $3 billion higher than projected in November.
USDA adjusted import forecasts up by $4 billion. By contrast, U.S. export projections were only increased by $500 million.
The report, released in conjunction with USDA’s annual Agriculture Outlook Forum, says higher than expected corn volumes are set to drive grain and feed exports up by $1.4 billion on the November estimate. Larger corn, feed and fodder exports are offset by lower wheat, sorghum and rice exports, however. Livestock, poultry and dairy export projections are also up slightly on November’s figures.
Export projections to major markets like Canada and China were trimmed on weaker-than-expected shipments and reduced demand for soybeans, grains and cotton.
Meanwhile, adjustments to horticultural products, sugar and tropical goods are driving the increased import projections.
Therapeutic food contracts cancelled
The Trump administration’s budget cutting is ending support for those therapeutic foods that are used to save malnourished kids overseas.
Payments to the two nonprofits that produce the peanut-based foods had been caught up in the freeze in foreign aid. Now, Navyn Salem, founder and CEO of Edesia Nutrition, tells Agri-Pulse the State Department canceled orders with the group worth $26 million on Thursday. “We have not been paid. No one has been paid,” she said.
The other organization, Mana Nutrition, lost a third of its orders. Mana co-founder and COO David Todd Harmon tells Agri-Pulse that orders that had already been partially filled were spared, however. “The back and forth is maddening,” he said.
The administration has cancelled some 5,800 USAID contracts.
Trump says US-UK to negotiate trade deal
President Donald Trump says his administration will work on a trade deal with the United Kingdom.
“I think we're going to end up with a great trade deal with you,” Trump told UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer after their meeting in Washington Thursday. “It’ll happen very quickly.” Under such a scenario, Trump added, the UK may avoid U.S. tariffs.
Ag credit holding up — for now
Credit conditions in agriculture remain relatively strong even as USDA forecasts that commodity prices will move lower in 2025.
Nathan Kauffman, senior vice president and Omaha branch executive for the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, said at the Ag Outlook Forum that ag credit is “quite solid, even with some of the increases in financial stress, slight reductions in repayment rates, and obviously the tighter profit margins that we're seeing with decreased commodity prices and elevated input costs.”
He noted that farm income will be underpinned this year by $31 billion in government payments authorized by Congress in December. But he said that raises the question of what the ag economy will look like a year from now.
Take note: USDA on Thursday forecast that farm-gate prices for corn, soybeans, sorghum, wheat and rice would all fall this year.
USDA Chief Economist Seth Meyer is our guest this week on Agri-Pulse Newsmakers, available today at Agri-Pulse.com.
Final word:
“Will there be any new contracts, or is that simply not the role of the government anymore?” – Shari Rogge-Fidler, president of the Farm Foundation, referring to the DOGE-led budget cutting.
