USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service officials will be discussing the bird flu outbreak with state officials and industry stakeholders today. The call comes after Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins told Breitbart.com that vaccines were “off the table,” leading to questions about whether vaccination would still be part of the administration’s bird flu strategy.
In a statement to Agri-Pulse, Rollins says the five-pronged approach to bird flu includes “efforts to explore vaccines, therapeutics, and other strategies to protect egg-laying chickens and reduce depopulation.
“USDA is taking a targeted, science-driven approach to developing next-generation solutions and will invest up to $100 million to determine the best path forward,” she says. “A formal public solicitation will be issued in the coming week.
“Vaccine and therapeutics strategy, logistics, and surveillance … are critical steps in advancing this effort,” she says.
By the way: Egg producers are seeking clarity from USDA on vaccines. “Vaccination is the most promising solution to protect our flocks and the most likely to restore and stabilize the U.S. egg supply,” United Egg Producers President and CEO Chad Gregory says in a statement.
Rollins assured Mexican biotech corn ban will not disrupt trade
Rollins says her Mexican counterpart has assured her that the country’s effort to curb genetically modified corn will not impact trade.
Mexico’s Congress passed a constitutional amendment last week that would ban the cultivation of GM corn. Rollins says she sought assurances from Mexican Agriculture Secretary Julio Berdegué that the proposal will not inhibit U.S. corn exports to the country.
“He assured me that there is no intention to block trade,” Rollins wrote on X.
Keep in mind: A U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement dispute resolution panel ruled late last year that an earlier ban on importing GM corn was unjustified. Mexico’s government has since lifted the import ban and instead pressed ahead with the domestic restrictions.
Rollins also spoke with her Canadian counterpart on Monday, Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay. She says she raised concerns over trade barriers inhibiting U.S. dairy exports.
Take note: President Donald Trump on Friday indicated new tariffs on Canada’s dairy exports are imminent, citing the country’s high out-of-quota tariff rate on U.S. exports. However, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday those tariffs would not land before April 2.
Groups call for use of ‘sound science’ by MAHA Commission
Farm and food industry groups are calling on the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again Commission to use “sound science” in coming up with recommendations.
More than 300 groups signed on to the letter, which emphasizes the importance of pesticides, biotechnology, and food and feed products. It also “highlights the ways in which these products are already robustly regulated to ensure their safe use,” the groups say in a news release.
“We are eager to share with the commission our significant concerns regarding unfounded criticisms levied against the safety of the food and agricultural value chain,” says the letter, which was sent to Rollins, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.
The American Farm Bureau Federation, International Dairy Foods Association, American Soybean Association, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture are among groups that signed the letter.
Take note: Late Monday, Kennedy announced FDA would consider eliminating the self-affirmed Generally Recognized as Safe pathway for food ingredients and chemicals. The move could limit food manufacturers’ ability to add ingredients or chemicals without notifying the agency.
Dozens of ag groups back Lindberg for trade undersecretary
Dozens of agricultural trade groups, companies and cooperatives are backing Luke Lindberg’s nomination for a key ag trade role.
More than 120 groups have written to Senate Agriculture Committee leaders urging them to move swiftly to confirm Lindberg’s nomination as USDA’s undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs.
“U.S. agriculture needs a dedicated champion in this role,” the groups say. “As such, we urge your committee and the entire U.S. Senate to promptly confirm Mr. Lindberg.”
Lindberg comes from the America First Policy Institute, the Trump-aligned think tank that Rollins headed before joining USDA. Lindberg is also president and CEO of South Dakota Trade and a former U.S. Export-Import Bank official. He also has a good Senate connection: He’s a son-in-law of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
Former NCGA leader: Frozen funds, weak market challenge conservation efforts
Uncertainty caused by frozen federal payments amid a weak period in the farm economy will probably discourage some farmers from trying new conservation practices, former National Corn Growers Association CEO Jon Doggett told Agri-Pulse Monday at the National Farmers Union conference in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
“If you’re a young farmer and the price of corn has a four in front of it instead of a six, your bankers aren’t going to let you go off and dive into some of those things,” Doggett said. He added, “And you ought not to because at that point you want to have as little uncertainty as you possibly can.”
Doggett, referring to the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices, added that USDA funding freezes have “injected some uncertainty into something that was just starting to produce some results."
Harkin: Cutting USAID is saying ‘we just don't care anymore’
Former Senate Ag Committee Chair Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, says cuts at USAID could have disastrous consequences for people starving abroad, saying they are the equivalent of saying "we just don't care anymore."
Harkin, speaking to reporters at the National Farmers Union convention in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, said the cuts represent a small fraction of government spending and break from the U.S.'s tradition of "being a generous nation."
Local food initiatives killed
The Trump administration is killing a pair of initiatives that former Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack created to help small-scale farms find markets in schools, food banks and child care facilities. The Local Food for Schools and Child Care Cooperative Agreement (LFSCC) and Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement (LFPA) are both being terminated.
Ryan Marquardt, an Iowa farmer who produces chicken, turkey, eggs and beef in the Des Moines area, told Agri-Pulse’s Noah Wicks the LFPA program made his operation more efficient by enabling more orderly marketing through the year. He says LFPA had provided a critical outlet for products that were harder to sell.
Recently, that product was brisket: “I'm sitting on a ridiculous amount of brisket at the moment.”
Final word
“Without risk-based scientific regulatory processes providing for access to and safe use of pesticides, U.S. growers and producers will become less competitive in the marketplace.” – Industry groups’ letter to the MAHA Commission.
This version of Daybreak corrects an earlier version by clarifying that the March 11 call with industry stakeholders and state officials will not include Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins.
