News from the
National Pork Producers Council ANOTHER ‘MIDNIGHT’ REGULATION DUMPED ON FARMERS
In another poke in the eye to agriculture, the Obama administration is set to issue a regulation that adds animal welfare standards to the nation’s organic food production law. The National Pork Producers Council will work with the Trump administration and Congress to repeal yet another “midnight” regulation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s amendment to the Organic Food Production Act of 1990 would strictly dictate how organic producers must raise livestock and poultry, including during transport and slaughter, and specify, without scientific justification, which common practices are allowed and prohibited in organic livestock and poultry production, thereby eliminating producers’ discretion to make sound decisions about animal care. It also would establish unreasonable indoor and outdoor space requirements for animals. The regulation was cleared by the Office of Management and Budget Wednesday, the last step before becoming final. “This parting gift from Agriculture Secretary [Tom] Vilsack is not welcomed,” said NPPC President John Weber, a pork producer from Dysart, Iowa. “This unnecessary, unscientific midnight regulation won’t win him any friends in the agriculture community he’s apparently joining.” Vilsack, whose last day at USDA was Friday, is expected to take over the Dairy Export Council.
HOUSE PASSES BILL TO REIGN IN REGULATIONS
The House just passed the “Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2017,” (H.R. 26), a measure that would require Congress to approve all new major regulations – ones with an economic impact of $100 million or more. Introduced by Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., the legislation would require federal agencies to submit their major regulations for congressional approval before they could go into effect, and both 10
chambers of Congress would be required to accept or reject a rule within 70 legislative days. The President’s signature also would be required for any of Congress’ joint resolutions of approval on a major rule to take effect. NPPC strongly supports the legislation, which the House passed on a 237-187 vote. The bill now goes to the Senate for approval, and President-elect Donald Trump has indicated he will sign the REINS Act into law.
INFLUENCERS DISCUSS WHAT THE NEXT FARM BILL WILL LOOK LIKE
Top agricultural influencers recently met at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to discuss the direction of the 2018 Farm Bill at a forum hosted by the Farm Foundation, a non-profit group that works for sound agricultural public policy. The panelists included Chuck Conner, President and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives; Scott Faber, Vice President of Government affairs for the Environmental Working Group; and Daren Bakst, an agricultural research policy fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Opinions varied on the next Farm Bill – from farm subsidies to government regulation. Faber voiced concern about farm conservation and stewardship practices and said that voluntary incentives alone are not working. He would like to see requirements for farmers to show basic conservation in return for subsidies and believes the key to safer food and water is through incentives and clearer regulation. Bakst sees a need for federal intervention to be passed on to state and local levels to ease regulatory burdens, specifically in the case of water conservation. On subsidies, he believes farmers currently are insulated from market forces, shallow crop loss coverage has distorted farmers’ planting decisions, which might harm stewardship judgement, and subsidies should only cover deep crop losses for the market to hold more power. Bakst believes the nutrition title of the Farm Bill and the other titles (as a whole) can be addressed and passed individually
to achieve more reforms. Conner reminded the panel that is it quite early to begin talks on the 2018 Farm Bill, considering that some of the 2014 Farm Bill provisions have yet to be implemented. He believes the “success of the Farm Bill depends on our ability to tap into that grassroots populism” that elected the Trump administration.
USDA SEEKS DISMISSAL OF PORK. THE OTHER WHITE MEAT® LAWSUIT
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) against the agency over the sale by NPPC to the National Pork Board of the Pork. The Other White Meat® trademarks. NPPC sold the trademarks to the Pork Board in 2006 for about $35 million. It financed the purchase over 20 years, making the Pork Board’s annual payment $3 million. The sale was an arms-length transaction with a lengthy negotiation in which both parties were represented by legal counsel, and USDA, which oversees the federal Pork Checkoff program administered by the Pork Board, approved the purchase. In 2012, HSUS, a lone Iowa farmer and the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement filed suit against USDA, claiming the trademarks were overvalued and seeking to have the sale rescinded. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed the suit for lack of standing, but a federal appeals court in August 2015 reinstated it, sending the case back to the District Court. But before any proceedings on the merits of the lawsuit, USDA inexplicably entered into settlement talks with HSUS. USDA conducted a valuation of the trademarks, finding their current worth is between $113 million and $132 million. Despite the nearly four-fold increase in value, HSUS decided to continue its lawsuit. In its a motion for summary judgment filed with U.S. District Court