THIS WEEK IN
Federal Policy News
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USDA Announces First Round of Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Funding
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On September 14, USDA awarded $2.8 billion to 70 projects under the first pool of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities funding opportunity. The purpose of the Partnership and the projects selected is to create market opportunities for American commodities produced using climate-smart production practices. Applicants submitted more than 450 project proposals to the first funding pool. Because of the unprecedented demand and interest in the program, USDA increased the total funding allocation to more than $3 billion. Projects from the second funding pool will be announced later this year.
Both the California Farm Bureau and Sonoma County Farm Bureau are major partners for two of the selected projects.
- $85 million - California Dairy Research Foundation Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Project: Led by the California Dairy Research Foundation, this project will build climate-smart dairy markets and provide financial incentives for dairy producers to adopt climate-smart manure management practices to reduce methane emissions, leveraging matching funding from non-federal sources.
- $10 million - Sonoma Marin Ag and County Climate Coalition: Led by the County of Sonoma, this project will build on successful carbon farming and local/regional food systems partnerships across two counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. The purpose is to expand climate-smart markets, including a regional supply chain and innovative marketing campaign for climate-smart agricultural products. This will create a scalable, regional carbon finance program that is sustainable and scale implementation for the long term.
A complete list of projects identified for this first round of funding can be viewed here.
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Potential Rail Worker Strike Could Lead to Significant Supply Chain & Travel Delays
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Heading into this morning, it remains to be seen whether freight railroad companies and unions representing thousands of rail workers would be able to come to an agreement over existing working conditions and pay. There are several unions representing upwards of 100,000 rail workers in the US, but two of the largest have yet to approve any compromises put forth by a federal mediator. Should the major parties refuse to come to an agreement, it would open the door for strikes to begin this Friday, potentially leading to significant supply chain issues across the country.
Ahead of the deadline, Amtrak had already begun cancelling routes across the country. Unfortunately, any strikes would also impact freight transport as well. With the agricultural industry heavily reliant on rail freight, any extended strikes could prove costly to farmers and ranchers, as well as countless other businesses. President Biden finds his administration in a difficult position given their history on both promoting organized labor and their existing work on improving the nation’s infrastructure and supply chains.
The rail industry’s last major strike was thirty years ago during the George H.W. Bush administration. The impacts were so swiftly felt at the time that the federal government moved to intervene within just three days of the strike. Countless industries and government officials will be watching closely over the next 24 hours to see what happens between the two sides, but it will no doubt make major headlines should the strike go through.
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USDA Eyes “Phase 2” Relief Payments for Producers Impacted by ‘20 & ‘21 Disasters
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Earlier this week, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack stated before members of the National Farmers Union that “Round Two” disaster relief funds for the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) would begin distributing soon. ERP is essentially the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program (WHIP) Plus under a new name. Earlier this year, USDA revealed the $10 billion set aside for disaster years 2020 and 2021 would be released in two phases. The first would cover ag producers already utilizing crop insurance or other federal assistance programs, while the second round would go to all others impacted by disasters in those years.
Given the prevalence of specialty crops in California, particularly relative to other states, our growers are more reliant on this second round of funding. This is largely due to only around 15-18% of our commodities being covered by direct crop insurance programs. Although promising to hear round two is finally getting underway, it now comes as we approach the end of 2022. CAFB has continued to press lawmakers and agency officials to understand the importance of getting disaster relief out in a much timelier fashion. We will continue to update members as more details are made on this second phase of funding.
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President Biden Issues Executive Order on Biotechnologies
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On Monday, President Biden issued an Executive Order aimed at supporting various biotechnology sectors in the US. The president is intending to help promote domestic innovations and solutions in health, climate change, energy, food security, agriculture, supply chain resilience, and national and economic security. For our industry, this would likely mean an added focus on the development and production of biofuels—as well as more attention on how biotechnologies intersect with "climate smart” practices and conservation. Per the order, various agency secretaries are expected to issue a report within 180 days on their respective departments’ goals and outlines for increasing biotechnology usage and research. In recent months, the president has tried to emphasize domestic production and development in several industries. |
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Registration Remains Open for Federal Milk Marketing Order Forum |
At the beginning of August, the American Farm Bureau Federation announced their plans to host a Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) Forum to be held in Kansas City from October 14th – 16th. The forum is intended to be for all dairy industry participants, including farmers, processors, and exporters. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack had previously called on the industry to come together and discuss potential changes and improvements to the program—and the event should represent a major step towards identifying potential solutions and proposals to current issues within the system. For more on the event and registration, please see below.
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Sara Arsenault
Director of Federal Policy
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Matthew Viohl
Federal Policy, Associate Director
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Erin Hutson
Federal Policy, Consultant
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