| | | | | |  | | By Ryan McCrimmon | With help from Leah Nylen, Doug Palmer and Liz Crampton Editor's Note: Morning Agriculture is a free version of POLITICO Pro Agriculture's morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day's biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro.
| | | — The unprecedented rise in unemployment is straining food banks across the country, and anti-hunger groups are pleading with Congress to help ease the burden by expanding nutrition benefits for low-income families. — The Justice Department has subpoenaed the four largest U.S. beef companies as part of its antitrust probe into the meatpacking industry. — President Donald Trump re-upped his threat to slap tariffs on European autos unless the EU drops its duties on American lobsters, which have left U.S. producers at a steep disadvantage to Canadian and other competitors. HAPPY MONDAY, JUNE 8! Welcome to Morning Ag, where we have some doubts about this map of each state's favorite food chain. Send tips to rmccrimmon@politico.com and @ryanmccrimmon , and follow us @Morning_Ag. | | | FOOD BANKS PUSHED TO THE BRINK: The coronavirus pandemic and economic slowdown has left at least 20 million Americans out of work, sending demand skyrocketing at food banks and other feeding programs around the U.S. The Agriculture Department is already spending $3 billion on surplus meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables to help nonprofits meet their needs, but anti-hunger advocates say there's another way Washington should help: Increase food stamp benefits so hungry families can buy more groceries instead of leaning on food banks. Here's the problem: Bolstering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is almost a nonstarter in Congress, even as lawmakers pour billions of dollars into unemployment insurance, stimulus checks and other aid, writes Pro Ag's Helena Bottemiler Evich. Democrats and Republicans have waged a fierce partisan tug-of-war over whether to shrink or expand the food safety net, and before the pandemic, USDA had issued a series of rules aiming to crack down on SNAP benefits when the economy was strong. Recent data shows that food insecurity rates are going through the roof. For example, a national survey in late April found that more than 17 percent of mothers reported that their children under the age of 12 weren't getting enough to eat because the family couldn't afford enough food — a more than 400 percent increase from when the government last measured hunger rates in 2018. The ask: Anti-hunger groups have been pressing Congress to increase food stamp benefits by 15 percent until unemployment rates come down, a move that would give SNAP recipients about $25 more per month. The request has repeatedly been rejected by Republicans, but Democrats have pledged to make sure the provision is included in a future coronavirus response package. Big picture: Food banks have gotten far more attention amid the pandemic than SNAP — in part because of the jarring photos of cars lined up for miles, waiting for food. But for every meal provided by a food bank, SNAP is estimated to feed about nine people. "It's just made it abundantly clear that we need additional support from the government," said Nicole Whalen, a spokesperson for the Vermont Foodbank. "This is a network already doing as much as we can. To actually have a really high impact, it's SNAP. It's not this." | 
A shopper picks up a package of meat. | AP Photo/Paul Sancya | BIG BEEF PACKERS HIT WITH FEDERAL SUBPOENA: A federal judge in Minnesota today will consider whether to toss out civil antitrust suits against Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS and National Beef, filed by cattle ranchers who accuse the beef giants of coordinating to lower the prices of live cattle paid to livestock producers. The Justice Department is seeking information from the companies as part of a civil antitrust investigation, separate from USDA's probe into potential price-fixing in the industry. None of the meatpackers responded to requests for comment, but National Beef told Bloomberg the DOJ's subpoena was "narrow in scope, which leads us to believe that the DOJ does not necessarily believe there is an antitrust issue." Beyond beef: Federal prosecutors last week also indicted Pilgrim's Pride CEO Jayson Penn and three other executives for fixing prices on broiler chickens. Penn, who took over the JBS subsidiary in 2019, plans to contest the charges and pleaded not guilty in a Colorado federal court on Thursday. A former Pilgrim's Pride vice president and an executive at Georgia's Claxton Poultry Farms also pleaded not guilty. During the court hearing, DOJ lawyers said Pilgrim's Pride conspired with six other companies to rig bids on broiler chickens sold to eight major buyers, including grocery chains and restaurants. Federal attorneys didn't disclose the names of any of the companies suspected of price-fixing, but Tyson Foods, Sanderson Farms and Perdue Farms all acknowledged receiving subpoenas last year as part of the criminal probe. Kraft Heinz, Kroger, Walmart, Sysco and U.S. Foods are among those who have filed civil antitrust suits against the top chicken producers for allegedly conspiring to fix broiler chicken prices. Those cases remain ongoing. | | | | HAPPENING TOMORROW 11 a.m. EDT – "INSIDE THE RECOVERY" PART III: PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW WITH NEW JERSEY GOV. PHIL MURPHY: How is the governor from one of the states hit hardest by the pandemic handling concurrent health, economic and social crises? Join POLITICO Playbook co-authors Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman for a virtual interview with Governor Phil Murphy (D-NJ) to discuss his state's reopening, how the Garden State is handling protests and unrest, and what New Jersey is looking for from the Trump Administration in the weeks and months ahead. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | TRUMP TAPS 'LOBSTER KING' IN TARIFF DISPUTE: The president on Friday threatened once again to slap duties on automobiles from the EU because of the bloc's tariffs on U.S. lobsters. Trump said he's putting Peter Navarro in charge of resolving the dispute, dubbing his hawkish trade adviser the "lobster king," reports Pro Trade's Doug Palmer. The EU currently has an 8 percent tariff on live Maine lobsters, plus duties ranging from 16 percent to 20 percent on processed lobster. Meanwhile, Canada can export lobsters to Europe without paying any duties, leaving U.S. producers at a disadvantage. "That's an easy one to handle," Trump said at a roundtable with commercial fishermen in Bangor, Maine, on Friday. But his administration has negotiated with Brussels for two years without reaching an agreement, and in November, the EU rejected a U.S. proposal for a mini-trade deal covering lobsters and chemicals. China, another large market for lobster exports, also imposed retaliatory duties on American lobsters after Trump slapped tariffs on a wide range of Chinese goods. Trump on Friday directed Navarro to put pressure on Beijing by slapping even more tariffs on some Chinese goods. | | | | WINNERS PLAY THE LONG GAME: Interested in building a sustainable future for generations to come? "The Long Game" is designed for executives, investors and policymakers leading the conversation about how society can thrive in the future. Engage with the sharpest minds on our biggest challenges, from pandemics to plastics, climate change to land use, inequality and the future of work. Subscribe today for a nuanced look at these issues and possible solutions. | | | | | | | | — Trump opened up a national marine monument in the North Atlantic to commercial fishing, undoing ecological protections implemented by the Obama administration. Under the proclamation, the New England Fishery Management Council will determine the amount of fishing allowed in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, some 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod, Mass. Pro Energy's Ben Lefebvre and Eric Wolff have the details. — The seafood industry recorded its first major coronavirus outbreak on a massive vessel in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle-based American Seafoods confirmed that 92 crew out of 126 onboard its American Dynasty ship tested positive for Covid-19, even as fishing trade groups said the industry had made rigorous plans to avoid the fate of U.S. meatpacking plants that became hotspots of infection. More from NPR. — Senate Democrats are questioning "a number of gaps" in USDA's $3 billion food box distribution program, which has already awarded $1.2 billion to companies to supply meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables to food banks and other nonprofits. Led by Senate Agriculture ranking member Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), the senators also noted concern about the "equity in the distribution of the food boxes" across cities and states. — Protests over the death of George Floyd while in police custody have spread far beyond big cities like Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., to small towns and rural communities, including those with growing minority populations. POLITICO's Ximena Bustillo has the dispatch from Boise, Idaho. — EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the agency "was disappointed" with a recent appellate court decision vacating the registration for dicamba, saying it "creates undue burden" for farmers. — The New York Times has a look at concerns surrounding USDA's coronavirus relief payments to farmers, a $16 billion effort similar to the department's trade bailout program, which Democrats and farm watchdogs claimed was unfairly tilted toward certain states and sectors. Read the NYT. — The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture named Max Moncaster as director of public policy. Before joining NASDA last year, Moncaster was head of policy communications at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the group announced. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment