Trump taps Censky as USDA deputy secretary | Steel issues have farm groups fretting | Farm Bureau’s farm bill proposals | House budget resolution near | OMB’s regulatory agenda | Mo. lifts ban on dicamba | U.S., Brazil meet on beef trade issues | FSIS administrator to retire July 31 | Trump climate change? | Canada, China woo U.S. state officials
— Trump moves to fill USDA’s No. 2 post. The president announced he plans to nominate Stephen Censky, American Soybean Association (ASA) CEO, as deputy secretary. Censky, a native of Minnesota, has a farm background and stints at USDA under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He worked on the 1990 Farm Bill and eventually became administrator of USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.
Other USDA subcabinet positions are expected within the next few weeks.
Censky grew up on a corn, soybean and livestock farm in Jackson, Minn., and graduated from South Dakota State University. His congressional work included being a legislative assistant for former Sen. Jim Abdnor (R-S.D.), working on transportation and agricultural issues. While ASA’s leader for two decades, Censky made expanding U.S. soybean exports overseas a priority, and urged approvals for new biotech traits in seeds.
USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue applauded the announcement, saying “the experience and leadership skills of Stephen Censky will only enhance our efforts. He will bring enthusiasm and a dedication to this country which will be great assets to USDA’s customers. I am extremely pleased with the nomination for this key position and am hopeful that the Senate will take it up in short order.”
Something happened that could be helping accelerate nominees: Walter Shaub, the director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE), announced he was resigning from his post effective July 19. Shaub has publicly criticized how President Donald Trump handled his business conflicts. Shaub’s OGE was described by some as slow-walking the approval process of many Trump nominees. USDA’s Perdue said the OGE, an independent office that works with ethics officials at federal agencies, is at the center of the White House’s delay in formally appointing top officials to USDA.
— Farm groups repeat concerns about trade retaliation in battles over steel. Some 18 farm groups are again urging Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross “to avoid igniting a trade war” and not use national security as justification to limit steel and aluminum imports, worried that U.S. agricultural exports could become targets of retaliation.
Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) shares their concerns, he made clear Thursday at his committee’s hearing on agricultural trade. “If you look at the countries being talked about (for potential tariffs) these are the same countries we’ve all talked about in terms of agriculture and trade,” Roberts said.
Ross is expected as early as next week to give President Donald Trump a list of options for restricting steel imports, senators said after a closed-door meeting with the Cabinet official Thursday afternoon. “I would assume we’re talking weeks, maybe days. But it’s close,” Sen. Pat Roberts said. Ross briefed the senators on several issues regarding the steel investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows the president to curb imports to protect national security. A similar investigation is being done on aluminum imports.
President Donald Trump has vowed action to crack down on foreign countries such as China that are “dumping steel” onto the U.S. market, while adding that he’s considering imposing new tariffs or quotas on imports. The comments, made to reporters en route to France this week and released on Thursday, sent shares in U.S. Steel Corp. higher.
The farm groups’ letter to Ross noted that many of U.S. agriculture’s best markets are in countries that are major suppliers of steel to America. “The potential for retaliation from these trading partners is very real,” the organizations wrote. “Short of explicit retaliation, these countries may also stall efforts to resolve current trade issues if they believe they have been unfairly targeted over legitimately traded products.”
The World Trade Organization allows members to limit imports under a claim of national security, but it has rarely been used because it could open the door for other countries to respond in kind by invoking national security for selected industries they want to protect.
— Farm Bureau sends farm bill ideas to Congress. The American Farm Bureau Federation sent farm bill proposals to leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture panels.
ARC program option. The proposals include allowing farmers enrolled in the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) program to choose between having yields calculated on a simple 10-year average or a five-year Olympic average. The five-year Olympic average, which drops the high and low years, is now the only option. The Farm Bureau also wants to raise ARC reference prices by 5% for corn, soybeans, wheat, sorghum and so-called minor crops.
On dairy, the group suggests changed to the Margin Protection Program (MPP), including a 25% cut to premium rates for the first 4 million pounds of production history and a corresponding 25% increase in premiums for production above that amount. The group also wants to change minimum and maximum coverage levels and increase the feed ration formula for all producers by 10%. No budget costs for those recommendations were provided.
For cotton, Farm Bureau said it supports making either or both cottonseed and cotton fiber eligible for commodity program support.
Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). While addressing comments from some that CRP payments have become excessive in some states, Farm Bureau does not support increasing the current 24-million-acre cap on CRP or creating a new program that would allow for short-term contracts, as proposed by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.).
Link to farm bill proposals.
Comments: House and Senate Ag panel members probably wish they, too, could propose a farm bill without budget cost estimates! Some of the Farm Bureau ideas are good in theory, for sure, but could be cost prohibitive, especially with a lower farm bill budget baseline ahead.
— House Budget Committee close to announcing markup of fiscal 2018 budget resolution next week. House Budget Committee Chair Diane Black (R-Tenn.) said she’s presenting on the budget during the GOP conference meeting today. “I am very close. I just need a couple more little things and then I can make that decision,” Black said, referring to officially announcing a markup session.
Key issues are how much to reduce mandatory spending and how to set up an overhaul of the nation’s tax code through the budget reconciliation process.
Coming budget cuts via the process will likely include a $10 billion cut in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) over 10 years.
— OMB next week to release regulatory agenda ahead. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said it will release the week of July 17 the Spring 2017 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, which will list for the first time the regulations that agencies intend to eliminate or modify to offset the costs of their new regulations. The report will provide how it will deal with President Donald Trump’s new one-in, two-out regulatory policy, which requires agencies to eliminate two regulations and to offset the costs of each new regulation they want to issue.
“The president has indicated a really fundamental shift in the way that we’re going to think about regulations,” Neomi Rao, the newly confirmed administrator of the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, said. “And we’re focusing very much on reducing the overall regulatory burden.” Rao said her role in this is to ensure the deregulatory effort is effective, responsible, and consistent with the law. A specific release date for the unified regulatory agenda hasn’t been set, Rao said.
In some cases, the Trump administration is buying time for possible rule rewrites, as with a USDA regulation governing the treatment of organically raised livestock. USDA delayed the measure’s effective date by eight months and announced it was launching a formal effort to rewrite the regulation.
Federal agencies have wide latitude to rewrite and rescind rules, but they must follow the Administrative Procedure Act, a law that aims to prevent regulatory whiplash. Agencies must first formally propose revisions, justify them and give the public a chance to weigh in. Relatively small changes, such as a delay, can advance more quickly but generally still require a formal notice and comment period.
— Missouri lifts ban on herbicide dicamba. The Missouri Department of Agriculture July 13 relaxed its temporary ban on dicamba, reversing a previous ban over claims that it is responsible for crop damage in fields adjacent to where it is used. Six days after it implemented a ban, the department allowed farmers to resume use of three versions of dicamba with new application restrictions intended to reduce the chances that the weed killer will drift into neighboring fields, said Chris Chinn, director of agriculture.
New restrictions include requirements that the herbicide be applied only by certified applicators, only between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., and only when wind speeds are under 10 mph. Applicators also must meet notification and record-keeping requirements.
On July 7, an Arkansas legislative committee approved a 120-day emergency ban on the sale and use of dicamba.
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture issued new restrictions on dicamba application in that state July 12.
— U.S., Brazilian officials meet to resolve beef trade issues. Officials from the Brazilian Agriculture Ministry and Department of Animal Origin Products met with their U.S. counterparts Thursday to discuss the USDA decision in June to suspend imports of fresh beef from Brazil. “Previous shipments of Brazil beef had been far from meeting USDA’s high standards for food safety, and we welcome the opportunity for further technical dialogue:" USDA Spokeswoman Nina Anand said. “Brazil is a valued partner and these discussions are just the beginning of a dialogue.” Brazil shipments of beef have been under focus since March, when some of the country’s top producers became embroiled in a tainted-meat scandal.
— Al Almanza to retire July 31 as administrator of USDA’s FSIS. Almanza has been a top official at FSIS, which oversees meat and poultry safety, since 2007, serving as administrator as well as deputy undersecretary of food safety. He began his work at the agency as a meat safety inspector in 1978.
— Climate-change change coming from President Trump? “Something could happen with respect to the Paris accord, we’ll see what happens,” President Trump said in a joint press conference with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron. “We will talk about that over the coming period of time, and if it happens - that would be wonderful, and if it doesn’t — that will be okay too.” The U.S. withdrew from the agreement last month, citing disadvantages to U.S. business.
— Pence, Trudeau headline governors meeting. The National Governors Association’s summer meeting in Providence, R.I., continues with two important guests: Vice President Mike Pence and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Link to watch. At the event, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper will take the stage to speak about international collaboration, workforce development, agriculture and manufacturing, according to a press release. Trudeau is expected to focus on bilateral trade ties, as well as cross-border security and climate change.
Comments: Trudeau’s strategy is to work around the White House and speak directly to state officials and chief executives, many of which border Canada. Chinese officials in recent days have signaled the same type of strategy in various talks and meeting with U.S. state and executive officials.
