March 19, 2024

Contents

• What We’re Watching
• Notable News
• This Week’s Legislation
• Upcoming Hearings
• Contact the Team

What We’re Watching

Congress 

Appropriations

Congress is staring down another funding deadline, with the State-Foreign Operations, Defense, Homeland Security, Labor-HHS, Legislative Branch and Financial Services-General Government bills expiring on Friday, March 22. These bills comprise about three-quarters of discretionary spending. Funding for the Department of Homeland Security held up the bill being released, but a deal appears to have been struck between the White House and Speaker Johnson (R-LA) that will allow the package to move forward. Since the bill text has not yet been released as of Tuesday, the possibility remains for a partial government shutdown, although the impacts would be minimal if Congress can pass the bill over the weekend.

Farm Bill

Since appropriations have taken top priority, progress on the farm bill remains at an impasse. Last week, the Senate Agriculture Committee Minority released a blog titled “Avoiding the Conservation Cliff,” which outlines ways to shift Inflation Reduction Act conservation funding to the farm bill. The blog states that “any discussion about ‘protecting IRA resources’ that does not begin with prioritizing additional baseline for the conservation title risks missing out on this investment.” The blog identifies moving budget authority provided for climate-smart activities in the IRA to part of reauthorization to create new and permanent funding mechanisms for conservation. 

Administration

FDA Releases Front-of-Pack Labeling Prototypes

The Food and Drug Administration has released several examples of potential nutrition labels it may soon require on the front of food packaging, as the agency works to finalize this requirement in an effort to achieve this administration’s goal of reducing diet-related disease. In a video released by Commissioner Califf on X, he noted that “front-of-pack labels would ‘complement’ more detailed information currently required on the back of items, to ‘help people quickly and easily pick out healthier food.’” Califf also mentioned that the FDA is working to update rules for foods to meet the “healthy” label definition. 

USDA Finalizes “Made in USA” Labeling

The USDA finalized their voluntary “Product of USA” label claims last week, allowing the voluntary “Product of USA” or “Made in the USA” label claim to be used on meat, poultry and egg products only when they are derived from animals born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States. USDA has also published an updated labeling guidance on the use of voluntary U.S.-origin label claims to provide examples of claims and the types of documentation that establishments may maintain to support use of the claims. However, Mexico and Canada have expressed concerns about how the new rule could violate USMCA and WTO terms.

IRA Climate Parameters Definition Clarified

Robert Bonnie, USDA undersecretary for farm production and conservation, clarified last week that the agency has been expanding climate parameters around IRA funding for climate-smart projects. This comes amid GOP concerns that funding will not be accessible to all farmers. “We want flexibility to be able to apply climate-smart,” Bonnie added. “But I think we also want to be held accountable to the fact that agriculture and forestry can make a real difference here.”

USDA Provides Organics Grant Funding

The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) provided $40.5 million for grant projects through the Organic Market Development Grant Program to support the development of new and existing organic markets, support the infrastructure to improve processing capacity, explore emerging technologies to promote organic products, and purchase equipment to help meet the increasing demand for organic commodities. The grant program aims to increase availability and demand for organically produced agricultural products and addresses the need for more market pathways.

Biomass Supply Chain Plan Released

Last week, USDA released a report, Building a Resilient Biomass Supply: A Plan to Enable the Bioeconomy in America, in an effort to increase biomass supply chain resiliency for domestic biobased product manufacturing. This follows a report from the BioPreferred Program finding that biobased products contributed $489 billion to the U.S. economy in 2021. A fact sheet outlining bioeconomy accomplishments for 2023 was also released, which shows $772 million allocated for R&D and infrastructure projects. 

Notable News

• Larry Ellison and Elon Musk Team Up to Apply Artificial Intelligence to Agriculture – ITC
• Droughts, Complicated by Climate Change, Result in US Beef Herd Hitting Historic Low – Investigate Midwest
• Missouri, Washington Introduce Bills to Ban Same Food Additives as California Food Safety Act – Food Safety Magazine
• The United States Has its First Large Offshore Wind Farm, with More to Come – Associated Press

This Week’s Legislation

• Senator Lee (R-UT) introduced the Geothermal Energy Optimization (GEO) Act to accelerate the adoption of geothermal energy in the United States.
• Senators Welch (D-VT) and Collins (R-ME) introduced the Making Agricultural Products Locally Essential (MAPLE) Act, which would add maple syrup to the eligible products under the Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP).
• Representatives Pappas (D-NH) and Posey (R-FL) introduced the PFAS Research and Development Reauthorization Act, which would reauthorize the Environmental Protection Agency’s research and development authority with regards to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, more commonly known as PFAS. 
• Representatives LaMalfa (R-CA) and Vasquez (D-NM) introduced a bill to direct the United States Forest Service to expand the use of proactive, targeted animal grazing in fuels management programs to reduce wildfire risk.

Upcoming Hearings

Monday March 18

• 10:00 AM: The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing on “Victims of Regulatory Overreach: How the SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rule Will Harm Americans”

Wednesday March 20

• 10:00 AM: The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets will hold a hearing titled “SEC Overreach: Examining the Need for Reform”
• 10:00 AM: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing “To examine PFAS as hazardous substances”
• 10:00 AM: The Senate Budget Committee will hold a hearing “To examine the nature of climate costs”
• 11:30 AM: The House Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on “The Danger China Poses to American Agriculture”

Thursday March 21

• 10:00 AM: The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies will hold a hearing on the “Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request for the Department of Agriculture”

Contact the Team

Feel free to contact Michael Torrey, Tara Smith, Cassandra Kuball, Barbara Patterson, Katie Naessens, Caroline Snell, Danielle Nelson, Julie McClure, Ashley Smith, Olivia Lucanie, Heath Brandt, Tracy Boyle or Matthew Hughes with any questions or comments.

Food and agricultural organizations that need the right results in Washington, D.C. can trust Torrey Advisory Group to put its relationships, reputation, and expertise to work on your issue. Since 2005, the firm has successfully provided legislative and regulatory guidance, issues management, and association management services to a wide variety of clients. Learn more about us at torreydc.com.