WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2016 - The Agriculture Department has
agreed to buy 11 million pounds of cheese to help shore up dairy prices. It’s
nowhere near as large a purchase as producers wanted. But one economist tells Agri-Pulse the
purchase could have a modest impact on prices without making U.S. exports less
competitive. The purchase would represent less than 1 percent of total cheese
inventories.
The $20 million in cheese will be provided to food banks for
distribution to low-income consumers. The National
Milk Producers Federation had asked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack
earlier this month to buy at least $100 million in cheese.
Vilsack left the door open for additional help this fall.
“USDA will continue to look for ways within its authorities to tackle food
insecurity and provide for added stability in the marketplace,” he said.
USDA
also delayed until Dec. 16 the 2017 enrollment deadline for the
industry’s Margin Protection Program. The deadline had been Sept. 30. The delay
is similar to what USDA did for the first two MPP signups for MPP.
Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, the ranking Democrat on the
House Agriculture Committee, called USDA’s actions “welcome news” but said he
would be working on revisions to MPP in the next farm bill.
Environmentalists seek to force ESA decisions. The
Center for Biological Diversity has filed
notice that it will sue the Fish and Wildlife Service to force action
on petitions to protect 417 animals and plants under the Endangered Species
Act. “These 417 species and hundreds of others are being dangerously neglected
for no other reasons than bureaucratic inefficiency and lack of political
will,” said Noah Greenwald, the group’s endangered species director.
The notice includes species from across the country,
including Florida sandhill cranes and eastern diamondback rattlesnakes.
Ethan Lane, executive director of the Public Lands Council
and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s federal lands program, said the
legal action shows that the ESA process “is broken.” “Substantive ESA reform is
needed now to allow FWS the autonomy necessary to prioritize species
conservation according to need, rather than political agenda,” Lane said.
Trump pledges to ‘keep America out of TPP.’ Donald
Trump seems to be waffling on his call for deporting illegal immigrants. In at
least one interview this week, Trump has suggested he would follow President
Obama’s deportation policy. But Trump hasn’t been giving an inch on his threat
to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
In a speech Monday evening in Akron, Trump claimed that
Clinton would “100 percent” support congressional approval of the TPP, if she’s
elected. “We won’t let that happen,” Trump said. “We will win this election,
and we will keep America out of the TPP.”
Green candidate pitches local ag as climate solution. Green
Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who is trying to get some headway to
the left of Hillary Clinton, used
a news conference at the National Press Club to call for drastic
action to address climate change. One of the solutions, she said, is to create
jobs in the “area of healthy and sustainable local food production.”
Stein didn’t say how that would be done, but she said that
agriculture is a “major component” of greenhouse gas emissions. Stein is
proposing to move the nation to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, just 14
years from now.
Stein’s campaign platform calls for labeling GMOs and for
imposing a moratorium on genetically engineered crops and pesticides “until
they are proven safe.” A new NBC News poll puts Stein’s support at 5 percent in
a four-way race with Clinton, Trump and libertarian Gary Johnson.
Senate panel plans late September hearing on mergers. Senate
Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley plans a hearing on antitrust issues late next
month that will include a focus on consolidation in the seed and agricultural
chemical business. China
National Chemical Corporation announced Monday that the Committee on
Foreign Investment in the U.S. cleared its proposed $43 billion takeover of
Syngenta. Meanwhile, a planned merger of Dow and DuPont is under federal review
and there are reports that a deal between Bayer and Monsanto could be
near.
“It’s obvious that China is looking at purchasing companies with
food production expertise as part of its long-term strategic plan and a
component of their national security. So it’s important that the United States
look at these mergers in the same way,” Grassley told reporters. The ChemChina
move to take over Syngenta follows the Chinese acquisition of Smithfield Foods.
FDA delays FSMA deadlines. The Food
and Drug Administration has agreed to delay a number of compliance deadlines
facing food companies and farmers in connection with the new rules issued under
the Food Safety Modernization Act. The agency also clarified and corrected its
compliance timeline for agricultural water testing.
Separately, FDA released draft
guidance advising companies on how to comply with the new requirements
for preventive controls in food plants.
Food stamp numbers continue to slide. The number of
Americans on food stamps fell to
less than 43.5 million in May, two million below the same month a year ago.
It was the second month in a row that enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP) has been under 44 million. SNAP enrollment is down more than 4
million since 2013.
She said it. “We call for a solution here that
addresses both the economic and the climate crisis. We call it a Green New
Deal.” - Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential candidate
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