Farm Bill

A news release yesterday from Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia) indicated that, “[Sen Chambliss] and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, today raised concerns in a letter sent to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack urging the department to take deficit reduction seriously. 

The Senators questioned USDA’s willingness to target farm safety net programs while protecting discretionary programs despite steady increases in the last two budget cycles. They also stressed that efforts to change rules in the middle of a farm bill only breed uncertainty and affects planting decisions, farm lending, equipment purchases and land values.

“‘We openly question why USDA would require ‘flexibility’ from OMB to cut mandatory farm safety net programs to meet discretionary funding reductions,’ said the Senators in the letter. ‘While the total cost of the discretionary fiscal year 2011 budget request was lower than the fiscal year 2010 appropriations act, the cost savings was largely achieved through increased savings from mandatory programs, not from true discretionary savings. Simply put, honest budgeting requires that discretionary savings come from reductions to discretionary programs. We believe the President’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2012 should be based on honest budgeting.’”

Ag Production Issues

James Kanter reported in today’s New York Times that, “Many Europeans recoil at the very idea of cloning animals. But a handful of breeders in Switzerland, Britain and possibly other countries have imported semen and embryos from cloned animals or their progeny from the United States, seeking to create more consistently plump and productive livestock.

“And although no vendor has publicly acknowledged it, meat or dairy products originating from such techniques are believed to be already on supermarket shelves.”

The AP reported this morning that, “A disagreement among poultry producers about whether chicken injected with salt, water and other ingredients can be promoted as ‘natural’ has prompted federal officials to consider changing labeling guidelines.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture had maintained that if chicken wasn’t flavored artificially or preserved with chemicals, it could carry the word ‘natural’ on the package.

“But the agency agreed to take another look at its policy after some producers, politicians and health advocates noted that about one-third of chicken sold in the U.S. was injected with additives that could represent up to 15 percent of the meat’s weight, doubling or tripling its sodium content. Some argue that could mislead or potentially harm consumers who must limit their salt intake.”

And Tom Polansek reported in today’s Wall Street Journal that, “U.S. wheat export sales were double what some analysts had forecast, yet another sign that global supplies are tightening.

“Growers in the U.S., the world’s biggest exporter, last week struck deals to export 919,900 tons of the golden grain, according to the latest data issued Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That topped estimates ranging from 250,000 to 450,000 tons.

“U.S. wheat prices have surged nearly 49% from a nine-month low in June to Thursday’s session high as a severe drought has hit the grain belts of the former Soviet Union, which in recent years has emerged as a force in the world grain trade. Nearby September wheat rose 12 cents, or 1.9%, to $6.2750 a bushel after hitting an eight-month intraday high of $6.32 on the Chicago Board of Trade. European wheat prices were near two-year highs.”

Trade

A news release from yesterday by the American Soybean Association (ASA) stated that, “[ASA] this week suggested key steps to meeting President Barack Obama’s National Export Initiative (NEI) goal of doubling exports in the next five years in comments to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The comments came in response to a request from the Obama Administration published in the June 30, 2010, Federal Register.

“‘Soybeans and soybean products are the most important U.S. export commodity, with export sales exceeding $21 billion last year,’ said ASA President Rob Joslin, a soybean farmer from Sidney, Ohio. ‘This represented over 50 percent of U.S. soybean production and 21 percent of total U.S. ag exports in 2009. In short, soybean producers are in the vanguard of efforts to improve the U.S. trade balance.’”

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) penned an opinion item yesterday at The Hill Online (“Trade, travel with Cuba the right policy, right now”), which noted in part that, “It isn’t every day a coalition of more than 140 organizations including Human Rights Watch, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the American Farm Bureau Federation all agree on a bill before Congress. But, in the case of the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, H.R. 4645, these groups and many more agree this is the right policy at the right time for the people of Cuba and the United States.”

After additional analysis, Chairman Peterson stated that, “Opponents of this legislation have tried to change the debate by complaining about delayed passage of pending free trade agreements. This bill can be passed while the work on free trade agreements continues. We can and must focus on more than one thing if we are going to expand and improve the U.S. economy.”