A measure to further roll back benefits for net energy metering has taken amendments weakening the proposal.
On-farm solar suffered a setback in 2023 when the Public Utilities Commission all but ended a program for farmers selling energy back to the grid. Agriculture was collateral damage in a much larger battle over shifting costs away from low-income customers. Customers already in the previous versions of NEM would still receive the benefits for 20 years under the new CPUC rules. But everyone else has seen a drastic reduction in energy credits under NEM 3.0. The move drew widespread outcry from homeowners and solar advocates.
Asm. Lisa Calderon of Whittier hoped to go a step further by requiring those contracts grandfathered into NEM 1.0 and 2.0 to transition to the new program after 10 years, cutting the contract timelines in half. AB 942 would also bump customers to NEM 3.0 when a property is sold.
The bill has drawn opposition from a coalition of ag associations, among dozens of other groups. Farm lobbyists pushed for removing the 10-year provision or at least limiting it to residential customers.
To get the measure out of committee ahead of a looming legislative deadline last week, Calderon dropped the provision, though the bill would still eliminate the carryover benefits after home sales. Calderon claims AB 942 would save Californians $3.6 billion through 2043 and stressed that energy bills “are becoming increasingly unaffordable” and more needs to be done.
House Ag plan cuts $290B from nutrition spending, funds farm bill programs
House Republicans are proposing to cut $290 billion from nutrition assistance spending over the next 10 years and use some of the savings to increase spending on commodity programs, crop insurance and other farm bill programs.
Read our full report at Agri-Pulse.com.
U.S. and China agree to temporary tariff cuts
U.S. and Chinese officials have agreed to reduce sweeping tariffs applied to each other’s products for 90 days to let additional discussions play out, the White House said on Monday.
Before Wednesday, the U.S. will reduce the “reciprocal” tariffs applied to China to 10% from 125%. The 20% duty applied over China’s role in the fentanyl crisis will remain in place, however, leaving imports from China subject to a minimum tariff rate of 30%.
Read our full report at Agri-Pulse.com.
Ag groups back Bayer's Supreme Court Roundup petition
U.S. agriculture would face “devastation” without the use of Roundup herbicide, a dozen major farm groups say in a brief asking the Supreme Court to address the issue of whether federal pesticide law preempts state failure-to-warn claims.
The amicus brief supports a petition filed by Bayer seeking review of a Missouri Court of Appeals decision that upheld a $1.2 million verdict against Bayer in a case brought by a man who says exposure to Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Read our full report at Agri-Pulse.com.
Bayer to reorganize Crop Science division, cut back on generics
Bayer will shed at least 200 jobs in a reorganization of its Crop Science division that also involves halting the production of generic active ingredients, the company said Monday.
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“Manufacturers of generic crop protection products, particularly from Asia, have built significant overcapacity over recent years and are pushing onto the market with persistently low prices, some of which are below the manufacturing costs of crop protection products in Europe,” Bayer said in a news release.
Read our full report at Agri-Pulse.com.
Ready, set, go: House Ag takes up budget bill
After weeks of discussion, the House Agriculture Committee is finally ready today to take up its piece of the GOP’s “big, beautiful” budget reconciliation bill.
The draft text released Monday evening would cut $290 billion from nutrition assistance spending over the next 10 years and use some of the savings to increase spending on commodity programs, crop insurance and other farm bill programs.
Take note: The legislation’s farm bill highlights include increased reference prices and payment limits for commodity programs. The bill also would boost trade promotion spending and bring Inflation Reduction Act conservation funding into the farm bill baseline.
Flash point: The bill would cut projected SNAP spending by $290 billion over 10 years, relying in part on a formula requiring states to start paying part of the program’s cost. Some 23 Democratic governors criticized the GOP’s proposed cuts to SNAP as well as Medicaid: “The notion that states will respond to massive cuts to federally appropriated dollars by backfilling with state resources is simply inaccurate and impossible.”
House committee to discuss sweeping tax proposals today
The House Republicans’ proposal for the tax portion of their budget reconciliation bill spares and extends the 45Z tax credit for clean fuel producers, while largely cutting other Inflation Reduction Act provisions.
The House Ways and Means Committee will meet this afternoon to start debating its part of the budget reconciliation bill. The draft text extends many provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and partially fulfills President Donald Trump’s promise to “end the green new scam” by repealing or phasing out IRA credits like the clean hydrogen and clean electricity investment credits.
But 45Z was not only spared but extended for an additional four years. The draft bill includes other biofuel industry asks like limiting qualifying fuel to U.S., Mexico and Canada-grown feedstocks.
Take note: It’s not a complete slam dunk for the industry. Clean Fuels Alliance America noted that a provision of the bill limiting transferability of the credit after 2027 could hurt smaller producers.
The bill is subject to change during the markup. It’s unclear whether members of the House Freedom Caucus will call for greater cuts to IRA provisions.
Read our full report at Agri-Pulse.com.
Trump tells GOP leaders that tariffs will offset reconciliation spending
Trump spoke with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Monday to discuss the potential for tariff revenues and a new executive order on drug pricing to offset reconciliation spending.
Trump told reporters he informed the GOP leaders that they’re “going to have to — No. 1 — score hundreds of millions of dollars of tariff money coming in. But even bigger than that, you’re going to have to score that your costs for Medicaid and Medicare” and drugs are coming down.
But, but, but: The Congressional Budget Office only scores provisions included in legislation, and there has been no indication either will feature in GOP reconciliation plans.
Further, Yale’s Budget Lab estimates that in the long term, new U.S. tariffs will actually cost the government revenue because of forgone economic growth. All the tariff adjustments so far in 2025 are set to cost the U.S. $394 billion from 2026-2035, according to analysis updated Monday.
Georgia becomes second state to enact law limiting pesticide litigation
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed a bill into law to shield pesticide companies from product liability lawsuits.
The bill makes labels approved under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) sufficient to satisfy warning requirements under state civil tort law. This makes Georgia the second state to add such a law. North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong signed a similar measure last month. Both Kemp and Armstrong are Republicans.
Both Bayer, which has been the target of lawsuits alleging it failed to provide adequate warnings of the dangers of its Roundup herbicide, and the Modern Ag Alliance, which includes over 100 ag groups, applauded the news.
“This law safeguards growers' access to essential inputs for food production and helps sustain Georgia’s agricultural economy,” Georgia Farm Bureau President Tom McCall said in a news release.
Also in Bayer news: A dozen farm groups have filed a brief supporting a Bayer petition that seeks Supreme Court review of the issue of FIFRA preemption.
“With manufacturers placed in the no-win situation of either disregarding state labeling requirements or making false and misleading statements in violation of FIFRA, these companies may exit the market and leave farmers without much-needed tools,” a press release from the American Soybean Association said.
UN-backed report warns of famine in Gaza without intervention
Famine in Gaza is increasingly likely without a ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access, according to a UN-backed report.
The report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification found that about 1.94 million people across the Gaza Strip are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity, with nearly 71,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children aged 6 to 59 months.
About 50 experts from 17 organizations conducted the analysis to determine the level of food insecurity on the IPC scale. They found 93% of the Gaza population is at a “crisis” level of insecurity or above. About 12% of the population is at a “catastrophe” level, meaning starvation and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident.
Final word
“It would provide the efficiency and flexibility to better manage water supplies and the environment into the future.” — Jeffrey Mount, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, explaining in a blog post that California and the federal government should consolidate management of both the State Water Project and Central Valley Project under one public utility.
