Does not matter: Climate ag bill picks up steam — Watchdog faults USDA’s data quality

Jun 25, 2020

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Quick Fix

— An effort to legitimize carbon credit markets is gaining momentum in Congress, as lawmakers pitch diversifying income for farmers struggling to make a profit.

— The Agriculture Department didn't comply with data quality guidelines when writing a controversial rule to overhaul safety inspections at pork slaughterhouses, according to a long-awaited report from the department's internal watchdog.

— Bayer reached a sweeping agreement to resolve thousands of lawsuits alleging that the company's Roundup weedkiller caused cancer in nearly 100,000 patients.

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Driving the Day

CLIMATE AG BILL PICKS UP STEAM: The Senate Agriculture Committee didn't let the ongoing pandemic stop it from holding a hearing Wednesday on a new bipartisan bill to bolster carbon markets, a concept increasingly backed by farm groups.

The committee discussed the bill, introduced by ranking member Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), while maintaining social distance through a new spaced out arrangement, with some lawmakers wearing masks and some beaming in via remote video. Two of the witnesses testified remotely. It was the committee's first hearing since March.

The discussion was overwhelmingly positive, though several lawmakers reiterated that any carbon credit certification system should be centered around benefiting farmers, not large companies or others seeking to buy carbon offsets — and that such a program not inadvertently incentivize corporations to buy up farmland.

Steer clear of 'greenwashing': "What we don't want … is the third party verifiers who are going to receive USDA certified labels, or the corporations that want to greenwash their businesses" to be the primary beneficiaries, said Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), as he questioned the panel. "How do we make sure that the benefit, the value actually goes to the farmers and not the middlemen or corporations?"

"I'm thrilled we've finally got a bipartisan effort," said Fred Yoder, an Ohio farmer and co-chair of Solutions from the Land, a farmer-led group that works to get producers involved in tackling climate change and sustainable development goals. Yoder told MA this week that the recent movement in Congress is "remarkable."

A companion bill is set to be introduced on Friday by House Ag members Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.).

Keep an eye out: The House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis is expected to release a report by next week with recommendations on legislation and next steps for Congress, including on agriculture.

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WATCHDOG FAULTS DATA QUALITY IN USDA MEATPACKING RULE: USDA's Inspector General on Wednesday sent lawmakers a long-awaited report (which is expected to be published this week) flagging several shortfalls in how the department formulated a controversial regulation that allows meatpackers to accelerate their pork processing lines to high speeds that labor advocates warn are dangerous for plant workers.

First, the backstory: Early in the rulemaking process, food safety officials acknowledged that any consideration of raising line speeds should account for the impact on worker safety. They also said their "preliminary analysis" showed that plants with faster line speeds under a pilot program actually recorded lower rates of worker injuries than other facilities.

But watchdog groups and independent researchers challenged the assertion, citing flaws in the underlying statistics. Lawmakers cried foul, the IG probe was launched last June and labor groups have since challenged the rule in court. USDA officials maintained that they didn't rely on the data in question to formulate the final rule, and that worker safety is not under their jurisdiction.

The findings: The IG's office concluded that USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service didn't fully adhere to requirements for data quality and transparency, and specifically "did not take adequate steps" to determine whether the worker safety analysis in question was reliable.

In response to the IG report, FSIS Administrator Paul Kiecker said the auditors placed "distorted emphasis" on minor errors and omissions in preliminary rulemaking documents. Kiecker also said the findings that FSIS didn't comply with data quality guidelines "are false because they are premised on a mistaken assumption about the purpose of the preliminary [worker safety] analysis."

Connecting the dots: The official report lends more ammo to critics who argue the Trump administration has failed to back up some of its biggest food and farm policy moves with enough scientific analysis. As POLITICO reported earlier this year, data problems have dogged major USDA initiatives including President Donald Trump's trade bailout, the department's crackdown on food stamp eligibility and the effort to uproot a pair of research agencies from D.C. to Kansas City.

BAYER SETTLES FOR $10.5B: After a flood of lawsuits against the German chemicals giant over its glyphosate weedkiller and more than a year of negotiations, Bayer agreed to the massive settlement with thousands of plaintiffs who claimed exposure to Roundup was responsible for their non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Pro Ag's Liz Crampton reports.

Where the money goes: Up to $9.5 billion will be paid to settle the majority of pending litigation, while $1.25 billion will be set aside to resolve future claims and to research whether Roundup causes cancer.

WHO said, she said: The World Health Organization concluded in 2015 that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen, while the EPA has long maintained that it's safe. Liam Condon, head of Bayer's crop science division, said the company doesn't intend to stop selling Roundup, and the settlement doesn't contain any admission of liability or wrongdoing.

Trade Corner

FOOD AND BOOZE ON TRUMP'S EU TARIFF HIT-LIST: The Trump administration published a list of $3.1 billion worth of European goods that could be hit with retaliatory duties in the longstanding trade spat over EU government support for Airbus. Among the targeted products are beer, gin, vodka, olives and chocolates, Pro Trade's Doug Palmer reports.

Keeping track of tariffs: The U.S. already has tariffs in place on $7.5 billion in EU products, which were authorized by the WTO under the Airbus dispute. The new list is part of the "carousel" process required by Congress, which directs U.S. trade officials to review the WTO-sanctioned tariffs every six months for possible revisions.

Now what? The administration is setting up an electronic portal to receive public comments on which items should or should not be included on the revised retaliation list. The portal opens Friday and closes on July 26.

TRUMP'S TARIFFS FACE WTO DAY OF RECKONING: The global trade body could decide within days whether Trump's unilateral tariffs on $350 billion in Chinese goods ran afoul of international rules. Of course, it could take months before the ruling is made public, since it first has to be translated into all the official WTO languages, Doug writes.

How we got here: To impose the duties, Trump utilized a decades-old provision of U.S. trade law related to unfair trade practices, rather than go through the body's dispute settlement process.

The big picture: A ruling against the Trump administration could fuel bipartisan calls for the U.S. to abandon the WTO. Trump is already deeply distrustful of the group, and Congress next month is expected to vote on withdrawal resolutions.

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Row Crops

— Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn released a joint statement that there's "no evidence that people can contract Covid-19 from food or from food packaging," and that moves by some countries to restrict food exports are "not consistent with the known science of transmission." China this weekend suspended poultry imports from a Tyson Foods plant in Arkansas because of a coronavirus outbreak at the site.

— Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is facing an ad blitz from her Democratic challenger targeting Ernst's record on biofuels. Businesswoman Theresa Greenfield attacked the Senate Ag member on Twitter and in a radio spot for voting to confirm EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, who Greenfield said has undermined federal support for ethanol producers. Pro Energy's Eric Wolff has the story.

— Brazil's soaring beef exports and high domestic prices are turning the meat into a luxury good in the world's largest beef producing nation. Food insecurity is rising as the coronavirus spreads rapidly in Brazil — but 2020 is expected to be a record year for Brazilian agriculture, with farm revenue on track to climb 8.5 percent this year, Bloomberg reports.

— The International Monetary Fund predicts the U.S. economy will shrink by 8 percent this year, contributing to a nearly 5 percent contraction in the global economy driven by the coronavirus pandemic. By comparison, the U.S. economy shrank by 2.5 percent in 2009 during the Great Recession, writes Pro Financial Services' Victoria Guida.

— Politicians are turning to Zoom wine tastings in lieu of traditional happy-hour fundraisers. Lawmakers including Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) are hosting wine-centered virtual events with donors this week, per POLITICO Influence.

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Recognizing its role as a leader in California agriculture and global almond production, the California almond community is working to grow almonds in better, safer and healthier ways, protecting our communities and the environment. With targets across zero waste, water efficiency, pest management and air quality, the Almond Orchard 2025 Goals build off decades of previous achievements and represent the almond community's public commitment to continuous improvement. The Almond Board of California supports this effort by funding essential scientific research, programs and farmer outreach. Learn more about the California almond community and our commitment to continuous improvement at Almonds.com/2025Goals.