WASHINGTON, Sept. 22, 2016 - The first day of fall is here
and that means means the new federal fiscal year arrives in just nine more
days.
Congressional leaders have been sorting through a number of
issues, including the Export-Import bank, in trying to nail down language for a
continuing resolution that would prevent the government from shutting down when
fiscal 2017 begins.
Child nutrition bill remains alive. Leaders of the
Senate Agriculture Committee are still hopeful of moving the child nutrition
reauthorization bill through the Senate before lawmakers leave town to
campaign. The bill needs unanimous consent (UC), so aides have been waiting to
make sure no senators will object. “We're still working through the UC process
and hope to have it completed soon,” a committee spokeswoman said.
McKalip to run GMO disclosure for USDA. Doug McKalip, a
22-year veteran at USDA, has been picked as director of bioengineered
disclosure at the Agricultural Marketing Service. McKalip has been serving as
acting chief of staff for the department as senior policy adviser on rural
affairs for the White House Domestic Policy Council.
His past jobs have included serving as director of
legislative and public affairs for NRCS.
Vilsack pressed on GMO disclosure. Senate Agriculture
Chairman Pat Roberts is making it clear to USDA that he’ll have his eye on
McKalip’s new shop as it implements regulations for the new disclosure law.
At
a hearing yesterday with Vilsack, Roberts wasted no time complaining that
AMS had issued a proposal to conduct two
separate studies on the use of electronic disclosure for genetically engineered
foods.
Roberts reminded Vilsack of the delicate negotiations that
were behind the bill’s language. “I don’t know why the first shot out of the
gate the department would go well beyond the law in implementation,” Roberts
said.
Committee aides say the law requires just one study on
“Electronic or Digital Link Disclosure,” while the USDA has proposed a second
“consumer use” study. Roberts obviously has in mind the even bigger issues to
come when USDA writes standards for the disclosure program.
Vilsack told Roberts he’s trying to protect the disclosure
program from future legal challenges.
Vilsack and Roberts speak after the hearing. Read more about
Vilsack's appearance here.
Industry mulls cage-free definition. The growing market
for cage-free eggs is pushing the food industry to considering developing a
common production standards. Representatives of egg producers and the food
industry met yesterday with USDA officials to discuss the issue as well another
challenges facing egg producers.
According to a summary of the meeting obtained by Agri-Pulse, there
was consensus at the meeting that there needs to be a “common definition of
‘cage-free,” so that producers know what they have to do and retailers “can
articulate what that means to consumers.” According to one participant in
the meeting, the industry will likely have to develop a definition because the
Agricultural Marketing Service has made clear that it doesn’t set such
standards. But the agency will be monitoring the industry’s transition to
cage-free.
Earlier this week, AMS started publishing the new monthly
report tracking prices for cage-free eggs that are traded on contracts
and on a negotiated spot basis.
Next ag secretary should be another governor, says
ex-governor. Vilsack, who served two terms as governor of Iowa, says his
successor also needs experience running a state government. Vilsack told
reporters that USDA has a much broader policy portfolio than many other
departments.
“Everything a governor does - natural resources, public
safety, human services, economic development, trade - a secretary of
agriculture does,” Vilsack said. He said there are several possible governors
who could do his job, but he didn’t name them.
Wanted: One photo of turkey-kissing senator. Sure,
there are a lot of perks that come with being senator, but Daybreak is pretty
sure this isn’t one: At yesterday’s Senate Agriculture hearing, Sen. Amy
Klobuchar revealed that she had to kiss a turkey as part of her role as keynote
speaker at the recent King Turkey Days in Worthington, Minn.
That disclosure prompted Vilsack to ask Klobuchar whether
there was a photo of her bussing the lucky bird. Klobuchar said that, yes,
Congressman Tim Walz had in fact taken a photo and that she had asked him not to
tweet it.
The only photo Walz tweeted from
the event was of a T-shirt.
USDA declares natural disaster in Louisiana from storms and
floods.USDA has designated 11
parishes, or counties, in Louisiana as natural disaster areas because of the
extensive damage done to crops and livestock by storms and flooding last month.
The declaration means that farmers in those 11 parishes – plus an additional 15
neighboring parishes and counties in Texas - are eligible for low
interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency.
But farmers will need a lot more than emergency loans to
recover, says Michael Klein, a spokesman for the USA Rice Federation. “We’re
happy a designation has been made however, you can’t borrow your way out of a
disaster,” Klein said. “We understand this is currently the only available
assistance under the secretary’s authority, but it likely won’t help our
growers very much.”
USA Rice is working with lawmakers to try to get more
substantial assistance from Congress.
He said it. “There’s no question that it’s a more
thorough inspection, and also it will I think avoid mislabeling. Often people
are paying catfish rates for fish that are not catfish.” - Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack, defending his department’s catfish inspection program
Bill Tomson contributed to this report.
#30
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