| | | | | |  | | By Ryan McCrimmon | With help from Rebecca Rainey, Helena Bottemiller Evich and Doug Palmer Programming announcement: This 10 a.m. version of Morning Agriculture will end daily publication on July 10 and move to a week-ahead style newsletter that publishes on Monday mornings. The daily 6 a.m. version will continue for POLITICO Pro subscribers. For information on how you can continue to receive daily policy content, as well as information for current POLITICO Pro subscribers, please visit our website.
| | | — Environmentalists are fearful of increasingly commercialized national forests after Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue recently directed the Forest Service to expedite the review process for opening up public lands to more logging and development. — Apple growers are feeling left out of the federal farm rescue program, and they claim the Agriculture Department used "fatally flawed" data to determine eligibility for its $16 billion direct payment program. — U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is on the Hill today to brief House and Senate committees on President Donald Trump's trade agenda for the remainder of 2020. If history is any guide, it could be his last hearing as the top U.S. trade official. HAPPY WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17! Welcome to Morning Ag, where we have good news for the millennials: Mango White Claw Pizza. Send tips to rmccrimmon@politico.com and @ryanmccrimmon, and follow us @Morning_Ag. | | | | Get the free POLITICO news app for the critical updates you need. Breaking news, analysis, videos, and podcasts, right at your fingertips. Download for iOS and Android. | | |
| | | PERDUE'S FORESTRY BLUEPRINT FACES GREEN BACKLASH: The USDA chief last week sent a memo to the Forest Service directing the agency to speed up environmental reviews, potentially allowing national forests and grasslands to be used for more logging, grazing, resource extraction and other purposes. The plan isn't sitting well with environmental advocates, writes POLITICO's Ximena Bustillo this a.m. "This is a roadmap to national forest destruction, and it's painful to read," said Randi Spivak, director of the Center for Biological Diversity's public lands program. Spivak called it a "dystopian vision of expanding mining, fracking, logging and grazing in national forests" that would "kill wildlife and increase carbon pollution." The memo said it's aimed at "increasing the productivity of national forests and grasslands," citing opportunities like using the public lands for broadband infrastructure, energy and minerals extraction or recreational activities such as hunting and fishing. It's scant on specifics, but environmentalists are worried about how broadly it could be applied. APPLE GROUPS APPEAL FOR AG AID: The U.S. Apple Association and other industry groups sent USDA a letter on Tuesday asking the department to reconsider including apple growers in its direct aid program, which launched in late May and has already dispersed $2.9 billion to farmers and ranchers. When USDA concluded that apple prices didn't drop by at least 5 percent from January to April, "every grower in America knew that wasn't correct," said USApple CEO Jim Bair. In reality, the apple business has been hampered by record-setting oversupply and sluggish sales, Bair added. The industry submitted more than 30 pages to USDA with sales data from USApple and the Washington State Tree Fruit Association that shows a decline in apple prices ranging from 6.5 percent to nearly 25 percent. Among the group's other findings: Apple stocks on hand were 15 percent larger than the previous record; shipping volumes were down 24 percent; and 19 percent of the 2019 crop remains to be marketed. Seeking an eggception? Other farm groups that weren't included in the aid package have also made their case to USDA, including egg producers who sell to the liquid egg market, which was crushed by the closure of schools and restaurants. (By contrast, the distinct market for shell eggs actually saw an initial boost at the start of the pandemic.) Trade aid update: The department said Tuesday that it has now purchased more than $2.2 billion worth of food products to help farmers and ranchers burned by retaliatory tariffs since the start of Trump's trade war in 2018. The commodity purchase program is on top of the $23 billion in trade bailout payments to producers over the past two years. | | | | WINNERS PLAY THE LONG GAME : Our sustainability newsletter, "The Long Game," is designed for executives, investors and policymakers leading the conversations about how society can grow and thrive in the future. Interested in building a sustainable future for generations to come? Join the sharpest minds for a discussion about the most significant 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 potential solutions. | | | | | | 
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue observes operations during a tour of a poultry plant. | Nati Harnik/AP Photo | POULTRY PLANTS RAISING LINE SPEEDS DESPITE COVID OUTBREAKS: USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service in April approved 15 large poultry plants' requests for waivers from line-speed limits, allowing the facilities to accelerate their processing lines by 25 percent — despite coronavirus outbreaks at most of the facilities and a coronavirus-related death at one plant, according to a new report from The National Employment Law Project. Eight of the 15 plants have ongoing outbreaks, per the report. The waivers allow plants to process as many as 175 birds per minute, up from the current maximum of 140 birds per minute. NELP argues that the move "goes against CDC recommendations on how to limit COVID spread in meatpacking plants." NELP's analysis of publicly available data found that all 15 plants also "had reports of severe injuries, a history of OSHA violations, or were the site of a COVID-19 outbreak." DOCTORS JOIN CALLS FOR DELAY OF DIETARY GUIDELINES REPORT: A group of nearly 240 doctors, researchers and other health care professionals wrote to USDA and HHS asking to delay releasing a key report from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. Strength in numbers: The appeal comes as several major nutrition groups, including supporters and critics of the guidelines, have called to give the committee more time to complete its work, as Pro Ag reported on Tuesday. Investigation wanted: The health leaders said they want a delay "to ensure adequate time for a thorough investigation" of allegations made by committee members about the process for reviewing the latest science. As MA readers will recall, a previous letter from the Nutrition Coalition, a loud critic of the guidelines, claimed that some committee members had come forward anonymously. "The allegations are serious and cannot be ignored," the group wrote. Eight-hour meeting today: The committee is set to hold a meeting today to go over its draft conclusions. The webcast information is here and the agenda is here. | | | | JOIN TODAY AT 4 p.m. ET - WOMEN AND COVID-19, SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS IN CRISIS PART III: WOMEN RULE INTERVIEW WITH PADMA LAKSHMI: The coronavirus pandemic has transformed the food industry and the experience of dining out, potentially forever. Join Women Rule editorial director Anna Palmer for a virtual interview with Padma Lakshmi, host of "Top Chef", to discuss the inspiration behind her new series, 'Taste The Nation', as well as the devastating impact of Covid-19 on women chefs and restaurant owners, and how food has the power to connect Americans to their community. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | | 
Robert Lighthizer | Getty Images | LIGHTHIZER'S LAST DANCE? No one has served more than a single term as U.S. trade representative in the nearly 60-year history of the office. Based on that fact alone, Lighthizer's testimony today before the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees, for their annual hearings on the president's trade agenda, could be his final appearance before the two panels, per our Pro Trade friends. Lighthizer turns 73 in October, and there has long been speculation that he would step down after winning congressional approval for the USMCA deal and signing a phase one trade deal with China. But some trade observers, who declined to comment publicly, now say they won't be surprised if he stuck around. No comment: Neither the White House nor USTR responded to questions about Trump's interest in keeping Lighthizer on for a second term if he wins reelection, or Lighthizer's interest in staying on the job for four more years. What to watch today: Lighthizer is sure to face questions about implementation of recent trade deals and the prospects for new agreements, including potential deals with Brazil, Kenya and the U.K. Pro Trade's Doug Palmer has the rundown of what's on tap.
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| | | — Coronavirus cases in Florida are rapidly rising as Gov. Ron DeSantis presses forward with lifting public restrictions, writes POLITICO Florida's Marc Caputo. Florida Ag Commissioner Nikki Fried blasted DeSantis on Tuesday as the state reported a record-high 2,783 new cases, continuing a long-running feud between the top officials with implications for Florida's ag sector. — The former president and CEO of Bumble Bee Foods was sentenced to 40 months in jail and a $100,000 criminal fine for his role in a three-year antitrust conspiracy to fix the prices of canned tuna, the Justice Department announced on Tuesday. Christopher Lischewski was one of four seafood executives charged in the investigation, along with Bumble Bee itself and StarKist. — KKR and Capitol Peak Partners won an auction to buy the assets of milk processor Borden Dairy, which filed for bankruptcy in January, The Wall Street Journal reports. Objections to the deal on antitrust grounds must be submitted by 4 p.m. today, and the bankruptcy judge has to sign off at a hearing on Thursday afternoon, POLITICO's Leah Nylen tells MA. — China said it discovered insects in shipments of Canadian lumber and is flagging the imports for noncompliance. Trade relations were already tense after a Huawei executive was arrested in Vancouver for extradition to the U.S. in December 2018, and China later halted imports of key Canadian ag products. Pro Canada's Andy Blatchford has the details. — The House Ethics Committee is extending its review of campaign spending by Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee in charge of USDA's budget. The review was referred to the House by the independent Office of Congressional Ethics in February, Roll Call reports. — The Nebraska Democratic Party called on its Senate nominee, Chris Janicek, to drop out of the race after he made inappropriate comments about a campaign staffer in a group text, the AP reports. Janicek, who owns a cupcake bakery in Omaha, is running against Republican Sen. Ben Sasse. — Western Growers announced that De Ann Davis is joining the produce group as senior vice president for science. Davis was previously vice president of food safety and quality for both Church Brothers Farms and Earthbound Farm, and before that she was chief food safety officer for Kraft Foods Group, the Western Growers announced. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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