Despite cuts to federal food safety programs, the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement is assuring the public that its government-enforced safety practices remain as strong as ever.
The farmer-led coalition encompasses 94% of the nation’s leafy greens. In a statement last week, LGMA CEO Tim York confirmed CDFA auditors are regularly visiting fields to verify compliance with the stringent practices and said the program has been unaffected by recent FDA changes. Retailers conduct their own safety inspections as well.
CDFA Secretary Karen Ross stressed that California has “has implemented and enforced some of the most stringent regulations in the world when it comes to agricultural pesticide use, environmental and worker protections, and ensuring the overall safety of the healthy foods our farmers produce.”
On that note: USDA inspectors and border officials have expanded their risk-based sampling to include more varieties of lettuce entering the U.S.
The goal is to reduce inspections of commodities compliant with current pest and disease regulations and to provide incentives for producers to increase the quality of their products, according to USDA.
California reduces State Water Project pumping
The California Department of Water Resources decreased State Water Project pumping levels by half starting this past Thursday. Delta water operators are now pumping 600 cubic feet per second and will likely maintain the lower rate through May.
SWP water curtailment measures are taken to improve migratory and habitat conditions for five species of endangered fish. The department says reduced pumping can also save more fish from being pulled into the pumping plant.
Food banks pressure Congress to reject SNAP cuts
The California Association of Food Banks is asking Congress to reject spending cuts to nutrition programs during the budget reconciliation process.
It argues the overextension of California food bank services will be exacerbated if the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and The Emergency Food Assistance Program lose funding. SNAP is especially important for CAFB since the U.S. Department of Agriculture decided to cancel the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program completely.
The association projects nearly 2.5 million children across 4,000 California schools would be affected by the cuts.
China raises tariffs again to match the U.S.
China’s Ministry of Finance announced on Friday that it would raise its additional tariff on U.S. imports to 125% to match the U.S. reciprocal tariff rate.
In a statement, the Finance Ministry acknowledged that 125% would shut many U.S. products out of the Chinese market, a point multiple representatives from the soybean industry have been making in recent days. It also suggested that China would not match further U.S. duty hikes.
Read our full report at Agri-Pulse.com.
Canadian ag tries to smooth path to USMCA renewal
Representatives from Canada’s agricultural industries and a senior provincial ag official were in Washington this week as part of an effort to preserve a North American trade pact and smooth the path to renewal.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has slapped new 25% duties on Canada, reduced to 10% for potash and energy products. Initially, products entering the country under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a free trade deal penned in 2020, were subject to the new tariffs. But the president later exempted products covered by the pact.
Read our full report at Agri-Pulse.com.
Judge orders USDA to release Maine nutrition program funding
A federal judge has ordered the Agriculture Department to temporarily release nutrition program funding it was withholding from the state of Maine amid a dispute over transgender athlete policies.
Judge John A Woodcock Jr. of the U.S. District Court for Maine issued a temporary restraining order barring USDA from “freezing, terminating, or otherwise interfering with the state of Maine’s future federal funding for alleged violations of Title IX without complying with the legally required procedure,” which includes notice and a hearing.
Read our full report at Agri-Pulse.com.
USDA employees head for the doors as potential RIFs loom
Thousands of USDA employees are planning to leave the agency through a deferred resignation program that could challenge the department’s ability to fulfill critical functions such as food import and export inspections.
Applications for the latest of two rounds of buyout offers closed on Tuesday. The department has not released the number of employees who had applied for the DRP offer. A spokesperson said Wednesday in a statement to Agri-Pulse that it was "reviewing and finalizing the numbers.”
Read our full report at Agri-Pulse.com.
Rollins: Tariff safety net ‘will be there’
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is doubling down on promises that the Trump administration will help farmers affecting by tariffs. And she’s downplaying concerns that a key funding source is running dry.
“It will be there,” Rollins told Fox News on Sunday of a trade compensation package. But Rollins said the administration won’t know whether the assistance will be needed until negotiations with trading partners have played out. Only China has retaliated against new reciprocal tariffs so far.
“The president has said, ‘I've got the farmers’ back,’ and my job is to ensure that we effectuate that promise to our farmers,” Rollins said.
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Take note: White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Sunday that the administration is in active negotiations with the European Union, United Kingdom, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Israel.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also described early conversations with China through “intermediaries.” Lutnick echoed the president’s recent optimism. “I am confident this is going to work out with China,” Lutnick said.
White House narrows reciprocal tariffs as Trump continues making threats
The White House has spared a slate of consumer electronics from U.S. reciprocal tariffs unveiled on April 2, despite the president previously insisting there would be “no exemptions.” But even as the administration narrows the scope of reciprocal duties, President Trump continues to issue new tariff threats.
Trump late last week said Mexico could face additional tariffs over a long-running water dispute with the U.S. Under a 1944 treaty, Mexico is required to send the U.S. 1.75 million acre-feet of water from the Rio Grande every five years. The International Boundary and Water Commission estimates it has sent about a third of what it owes this cycle – which ends in October.
“[W]e will keep escalating consequences, including TARIFFS and, maybe even SANCTIONS, until Mexico honors the Treaty,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This is very unfair, and it is hurting South Texas Farmers very badly.”
Discussions continue: Mexico acknowledges it has not lived up to the treaty, blaming a three-year drought, but Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo said in a post on X that “to the extent water is available, Mexico has been complying."
The Mexican government has provided U.S. officials a “comprehensive proposal” to address lagging Rio Grande water deliveries, she said.
“I am confident that, as on other issues, an agreement will be reached," she added.
Take note: Rollins confirmed Friday in an X post that she had a “productive call" with Mexico’s agriculture secretary about the issue. “We’re moving fast — stay tuned for updates,” she wrote.
Zeldin: EPA to protect environment, grow economy
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin says his agency is embracing a mission that includes protecting the environment and driving economic growth. “Some would say the EPA protects the environment. That's true, but there's a whole lot more to know beyond that,” Zeldin says in a four-minute address on the EPA website.
He says EPA “will continue tirelessly in our work to ensure clean air, land and water for every American, while simultaneously driving economic growth by unleashing energy dominance, pursuing permitting reform, making the U.S. the AI capital of the world, and bringing back American auto jobs.”
“Under my leadership, EPA will no longer view the goals of protecting our environment and growing our economy as binary choices. We must and we will choose both,” Zeldin says.
Left unsaid: As part of its strategy to promote economic growth, EPA last month targeted numerous regulations, including clean air rules limiting emissions of mercury and other air toxics from power plants.
“We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more,” Zeldin says.
Cutting climate ag research would hurt efficiency, environmental group reports
Cutting all climate-related agriculture research could impact up to $424 million in grants at different federal agencies, the Breakthrough Institute estimates. The environmental research group came to the number after searching over 100,000 federal grant records for terms such as “greenhouse gas emissions” and “climate mitigation.”
The group says cutting this research would affect farmers’ productivity and global competitiveness, as several grants were focused on improving farming efficiency. They note climate mitigation efforts are often just a co-benefit in researching efficiency practices.
The report comes as the Trump administration reviews 15 programs at USDA, many of which provide funding for climate mitigation research and practices.
Final word
“People make investment decisions that are years into the future if they're going to build a factory, or they're going to rehab an old factory or buy a bunch of new tools. And, right now, with Donald Trump, nobody can figure out what the rules will be five days from now, much less five years from now.” – Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on CNN’s State of the Union.
