| | | | | |  | | By Ryan McCrimmon | Editor's Note: Weekly Agriculture is a weekly version of POLITICO Pro's daily Agriculture policy newsletter, Morning Agriculture. POLITICO Pro is a policy intelligence platform that 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. | 
President Donald Trump holds up hats that read "Make Our Farmers Great Again!" | Andrew Harnik/AP photo | IT'S TRUMP'S TURN: Democrats last week made their case for electing Joe Biden president. Now, the GOP will offer its official rebuttal starting today at the Republican National Convention, culminating in a speech by President Donald Trump on Thursday night. As our Playbook colleagues point out, blunting Biden's momentum will be a heavy lift for Trump, given the mounting economic carnage and public health crisis. What MA is watching: Trump is sure to tout his support from farmers and ranchers, which has long been a staple of his stump speech. He can point to his new trade pact with Canada and Mexico that went into force last month and included some modest wins for dairy producers, wheat growers and other ag sectors, as well as his dismantling of the Obama administration's Waters of the U.S. rule and the unprecedented bailout payments he's issued to farmers. — Trump's challenge: His tariff fights and ethanol policies have been painful for many farmers and manufacturers, and rural communities have been hit hard by the pandemic and recession. Even Trump's recent efforts to undermine the U.S. Postal Service to inhibit mail-in voting could backfire with some rural voters who rely on USPS to receive bills, paychecks and medications (more on that below). — Why it matters: Recreating the surge of support from rural America that propelled Trump in 2016 could be even more critical for the president in 2020 (especially in key states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin), with Trump currently trailing Biden in the polls. — State of play: The Biden campaign is eager to peel off rural voters who are disenchanted with Trump's trade war or his coronavirus response, as our Liz Crampton reported. And surveys suggest the former veep is already more popular in rural areas than Hillary Clinton was in 2016. More RNC highlights: The Trump campaign released the lineup of convention speakers, including several farm-state officials: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. — Bonus read: Go behind the scenes as party leaders scrambled to build a virtual convention in just four weeks after giving up on holding an in-person gathering, per POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt. | | | | INTRODUCING POLITICO MINUTES: These unprecedented times demand an unconventional approach to political news coverage. POLITICO Minutes is a new, interactive content experience that delivers the top takeaways you need to know in an easy-to-digest, swipeable format straight to your inbox. Get a breakdown of what we've learned so far, why it matters and what to watch for going forward. Sign up for POLITICO Minutes, launching at the 2020 Conventions. | | | | | WELCOME TO WEEKLY AGRICULTURE! It's Monday, Aug. 24, and apparently pumpkin spice season already. Send tips to rmccrimmon@politico.com and @ryanmccrimmon, and follow us @Morning_Ag. | | | TRUMP IN THE TAR HEEL STATE: Trump visits a produce packing site in North Carolina at 3:30 p.m., along with his daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, where the president might offer a flavor of his pitch to farmers and food producers. On your radar: A pair of intense storms are approaching the Gulf Coast. Hurricane Marco is forecast to make landfall tonight in Louisiana, with torrential rain and winds reaching parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Tropical Storm Laura is also expected to strengthen to a hurricane and make landfall in the same area later this week. | 
A weathered USPS mailbox. | AP Photo/Morry Gash | NO DEAL ON POSTAL SERVICE AFTER HOUSE VOTE: The chamber convened for a rare Saturday session to pass a $25 billion emergency funding package for USPS, including provisions to block major changes by Trump's postmaster general that could cripple the agency's ability to handle a surge of mail-in ballots this fall. The upshot: The measure passed 257-150, with 26 Republicans joining Democrats in favor of the bill. But it's not likely to see any daylight in the GOP-controlled Senate, and the White House has vowed to veto the legislation anyway. Closed-door negotiations toward a deal on the USPS crisis and coronavirus relief are ongoing — but there hasn't been much progress. MORE PUSHBACK ON FARM PAYMENTS: House Agriculture Chair Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) is questioning how the Agriculture Department determined which crops and livestock were eligible for aid under the $16 billion direct payment program. In a letter to Perdue, he asked for greater transparency and suggested that the department's time window for measuring the impact on commodity prices didn't align with when many ag sectors suffered their most significant price losses. Related: USDA today will publish a rule in the Federal Register to modify the eligibility requirements for farm payments, such as allowing first cousins, nieces and nephews of farm owners to qualify as family members — a change directed by the 2018 farm bill. But it also tightens some other requirements for anyone claiming to be actively engaged in running a farm, as Agri-Pulse points out. | | | EUROPE AGREES TO LOWER LOBSTER TARIFFS: EU trade chief Phil Hogan said the bloc will reduce its duties on lobster imports from all WTO countries, including the U.S., in an effort to tamp down trade tensions with Washington, POLITICO Europe's Jakob Hanke Vela reports. — The big picture: The deal could offer a much-needed boost for an industry that has struggled to compete with Canadian lobster exporters and has been hit hard by Chinese retaliatory tariffs and the coronavirus pandemic. — The specifics: Brussels will eliminate tariffs for the next five years on all live and frozen lobster goods from the U.S., worth some $111 million in 2017. In turn, the Trump administration will lower tariffs by 50 percent on select items of a comparable value, namely European imports including prepared meals, fine wine glasses and lighters. Strategic shift: The limited agreement represents a pivot from Hogan's predecessor, Cecilia Malmström, who spurned a mini-deal to reduce lobster tariffs in favor of seeking a broader trade pact. | | | | PREGAME THE PRIME-TIME RNC LINEUP WITH FOUR SQUARE : This isn't quite how we predicted the GOP convention would look back in January, but here we are. Time to make the most of it! Join Four Square host Eugene Daniels and top political journalists Tim Alberta, Laura Barrón-López and Ryan Lizza throughout convention week for a breakdown of the day's most significant political developments and the buzz surrounding the convention. Watch it live here. | | | | | | | | | 
Trammell drives a tractor, gardens and performs animal husbandry on the 25-acre lot, where sheep, donkeys, horses, guinea hens and peacocks roam. | AP Photo | — Farm equipment maker Deere & Co. raised its annual earnings forecast to $2.25 billion in net income, with ag machinery sales now expected to decline less than previously estimated. The company cut production to lower costs and prevent a supply glut amid the prolonged farm economy downturn, Reuters reports. — New Jersey ag officials are trying to stop the spread of spotted lanternflies, threatening crops across the state. The bugs aren't dangerous to humans, but they are a serious problem for farms and especially vineyards; lanternflies could cost New Jersey producers up to $554 million per year in a worst-case scenario. The New York Times has more. — Maine officials will allow marijuana dispensaries to open their doors to adult customers starting on Oct. 9, nearly four years since voters narrowly approved a referendum to legalize cannabis in the Pine Tree State. No other state has taken as long as Maine to establish a recreational marijuana market, writes Pro Cannabis' Paul Demko. — Winemakers in the French Champagne region are gathering a bumper harvest of grapes, amid slumping demand for the bubbly drink. Champagne sales have crashed as weddings and other events are cancelled because of the pandemic, and French producers have placed a quota on the amount of grapes they can send for processing. Reuters has the story. — Democrats are heaping pressure on Trump to drop his plans to defer payroll taxes that fund Social Security, framing the move as an attempt to slash the entitlement program for retirees and people with disabilities, per Pro Tax's Aaron Lorenzo. — DTN has a profile of Zemua Baptista, a 22-year-old college student and poultry farmer in Seward, Neb., navigating farm ownership as a first-generation American and Black producer. Read the story. — Kevin Kramp was selected to be deputy general counsel of the Farm Credit Administration, after holding the post in an acting capacity since March. Kramp joined FCA in 2015 and was previously chief counsel for the House Agriculture Committee. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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