Federal News
U.K. officials order poultry indoors to fight HPAI spread
Meatingplace (registration required) | Posted on December 9, 2016Authorities have designated all of Scotland and England an Aviation Influenza Prevention Zone in order to protect commercial and backyard poultry flocks from the avian influenza outbreak that so far has affected 14 European and Asian nations in recent weeks. Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has yet to be confirmed in any part of the United Kingdom, but officials at the Dept. for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are concerned enough to order poultry farm managers and others to keep birds inside for the next 30 days, according to several local media reports. Similar restrictions have already been introduced in Wales and the British Poultry Council has noted that there are no threats to Christmas turkeys, most of which have already been processed for sale.
Fast-food chief who touts immigrant workers gets Labor nod
Agri-Pulse | Posted on December 9, 2016President-elect Donald Trump has selected fast-food executive Andy Puzder to run the Labor Department, which oversees OSHA, enforces wage rules and manages guest-worker programs on which many farms and others in the food industry rely. Trump said Puzder “will fight to make American workers safer and more prosperous … and he will save small businesses from the crushing burdens of unnecessary regulations that are stunting job growth and suppressing wages.” Puzder is CEO of CKE Restaurants, which operates the Hardee's and Carl's Jr. burger chains. Puzder has argued for the need for low-skilled immigrant workers in his industry and others. During a 2013 appearance with the American Enterprise Institute, Puzder said that immigrant workers “always have the thank-God-I-have-this-job attitude.”He was a strong supporter of the Senate's 2013 comprehensive immigration reform bill that would have offered illegal immigrants a path to citizenship and expanded access to low-skilled guest workers. His one gripe about the bill was the amount of spending it would have devoted to border security, a central priority of the Trump campaign. “I don't know when it became a conservative Republican principle that increasing the size and intrusiveness of government was a good thing,” Puzder said at the 2013 forum.One issue that will give some in agriculture pause is that he supports the E-Verify system and says it has helped ensure that workers in his restaurants are legal. Growers have been fighting mandatory E-Verify bills in Congress, saying they won't be able to hire enough legal workers until Congress acts on broader immigration reform. There are also differences in the restaurant industry over E-Verify.
EPA's Heir Apparent, Scott Pruitt, Speaks Out on His Stance to Hot Button Issues WOTUS and RFS
Oklahoma Farm report | Posted on December 9, 2016Since being named the President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee as administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency, sitting Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt made his first public appearance at a Bartlesville Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting this morning. KWON Radio News Director Charlie Taraboletti had the chance to visit with Pruitt briefly at the breakfast, where Pruitt offered some comments regarding his stance on a couple issues he will soon be given authority over, including the Waters of the US rule (WOTUS) and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). “I think the states across the country and the Sixth Circuit obviously has spoken to this already; that there is great concern about the definition that’s been deployed and established,” Pruitt said, referring to the WOTUS rule and the way it was implemented. He explains that federal agencies currently have a view that if something is not acted on or defined specifically by congress, then they believe they have the authority to indecently act on their own, making policy up without oversight and essentially legislating through regulation. Pruitt goes on to say that he hopes this view will change during the transition of the new administration and that all branches of government will act within their appropriate parameters.Looking at the Renewable Fuel Standard, Pruitt contends that like many other well-intended rules that have failed to meet their expectations and objectives, he thinks it wise for congress to consider revisiting and reevaluating.“I think the congress needs to look at that and say, ‘is it (working) today?’” Pruitt suggests, “and I think there are some that are looking into that.”
Trump taps Pruitt to head EPA
Progressive Farmer | Posted on December 8, 2016Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is President-elect Donald Trump's selection to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Farmers and ranchers who have been concerned for years about what they perceive as an ever-increasing weight of regulations including the waters of the United States, or WOTUS, rule may be pleased with Trump's selection. On the other hand, Pruitt has been an outspoken critic of the Renewable Fuel Standard. Pruitt led a number of states in filing one of many lawsuits against EPA challenging the WOTUS rule as an unconstitutional power grab. A federal court put the rule on hold nationally pending a number of legal challenges. It is widely believed the Trump administration would eliminate the rule. On the biofuels front, the next EPA head will determine the future of the RFS. The oil and gas industry has generally called for repeal or reform of the RFS. Pruitt has been an open critic of the RFS and has ties to the oil and gas industry.
Farm Sector Weakness To Continue Into 2016
USDA | Posted on December 8, 2016Net cash farm income is forecast at $90.1 billion and net farm income at $66.9 billion for 2016. Both measures are forecast to decline for the third consecutive year after reaching record highs in 2013 for net farm income and 2012 for net cash income. Net cash farm income is expected to fall by 14.6 percent in 2016, while net farm income is forecast to decline by 17.2 percent. These declines follow the 19.8- and 12.7-percent reductions in net cash income and net farm income, respectively, that occurred in 2015.
China Is Likely To Fill the Vacuum' From U.S. TPP Exit
Asia Society | Posted on December 8, 2016Ratifying the TPP would bring enormous economic and geostrategic benefits, not just to the U.S., but to all TPP partners. The agreement covers 12 countries, which together produce 40 percent of the world’s GDP. What makes TPP different from previous agreements is that it covers all products, even the most sensitive agricultural ones which have typically been excluded from previous agreements. Furthermore, TPP would also create rules for state-owned enterprises, digital trade, environmental protection, intellectual property, and much more. It has very robust provisions on labor; For example, Vietnam agreed to allow independent unions under the agreement, which is a big policy change. TPP would set a high standard for how trade is done in the 21st century. A year ago, China — which wasn’t part of the TPP negotiations — was looking at the agreement very closely, and did not appear to be ruling out joining it eventually. Now there is indeed a vacuum, and someone will fill it. The Asian countries want to continue liberalizing. I expect that the RCEP negotiations, which have been going on for a few years, will be intensified now, and possibly concluded in 2017.
Vegans find nothing funny about new UK money
Meatingplace (registration required) | Posted on December 6, 2016The revelation that tallow was used in the manufacturing process for new British five-pound notes that went into circulation in September has prompted an outcry from vegans, vegetarians and members of certain religious groups.
New EPA grant tightens oversight to prevent another What’s Upstream
Capital Press | Posted on December 4, 2016The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded Western Washington tribes another $25 million for Puget Sound projects, but with stronger instructions to collaborate with others, a response to congressional complaints that one tribe misspent EPA funds to malign farmers. The new grant to the 20-tribe Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission extends for five years a federal program that financed What’s Upstream, a media campaign directed by the Swinomish Indian tribe portraying farmers as careless and unregulated polluters. EPA staff members had concerns about the project’s tone and accuracy, but the EPA’s Northwest administrator, Dennis McLerran, stated in a letter in May to a lawmaker that the agency couldn’t control the grant-funded campaign. The EPA did, however, sever ties with What’s Upstream when confronted on the national level by angry federal lawmakers
Japan culls most poultry since 2011 as bird flu confirmed
Farm Futures | Posted on December 1, 2016Japan ordered the culling of 326,500 poultry after confirming bird flu in two northern Japanese farms, marking the worst outbreak of the disease since 2011, according to the Agriculture Ministry.
USDA Proposes Revisions to Nutritional Fact Panel for Meat and Poultry Products
USDA | Posted on December 1, 2016The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service is proposing to amend the nutrition labeling regulations for meat and poultry products to parallel the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's final nutrition regulations, which were published on May 27, 2016. The proposed rule will improve the presentation of nutrition information to assist consumers in maintaining healthy dietary practices. Specifically, FSIS is proposing to:Update the list of nutrients that are required or permitted to be declared;Provide updated Daily Reference Values (DRVs) and Reference Daily Intake (RDI) values that are based on current dietary recommendations from consensus reports;Amend the labeling requirements for foods represented or purported to be specifically for children under the age of 4 years and pregnant women and lactating women and establish nutrient reference values specifically for these population subgroups;Revise the format and appearance of the Nutrition Facts label;Amend the definition of a single-serving container;Require dual-column labeling for certain containers;Update and modify several reference amounts customarily consumed (RACCs or reference amounts); and Consolidate the nutrition labeling regulations for meat and poultry products into a new Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part.