Farm bill debate goes sour

Dec 18, 2023

With help from Meredith Lee Hill and Marcia Brown

QUICK FIX

— The year is ending on a gloomy note for the farm bill, as prospects for the bill begin to dim in 2024.

— Wondering what the ag industry wants for Christmas? Tune into MA’s 12 days of Ag-Mas.

— Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is probing the Food and Drug Administration after POLITICO reported that the agency is investigating whether lead contamination in cinnamon applesauce pouches was purposeful.

HAPPY MONDAY, DEC. 18. I’m your host, Garrett Downs. Send your hot tips to gdowns@politico.com, and follow us at @Morning_Ag.

POLITICO AT CES® 2024: We are going ALL IN On at CES 2024 with a special edition of the POLITICO Digital Future Daily newsletter. The CES-focused newsletter will take you inside the most powerful tech event in the world, featuring revolutionary products that cut across verticals, and insights from industry leaders that are shaping the future of innovation. The newsletter runs from Jan. 9-12 and will focus on the public policy-related aspects of the gathering. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage of the show.

Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories.

Driving the day

FARM BILL HOPES DIMMING: Lawmakers and staff are getting significantly more gloomy on farm bill prospects for 2024, a bad sign as the more than $1 trillion food and agriculture bill is set to expire again on Sept. 30.

Things got heated in the House last week after a statement lamenting the lack of a 2023 farm bill from Ag Committee ranking member David Scott (D-Ga.) ruffled Republican feathers.

“The farm bill is critical to farmers and the families they feed,” Scott said in the statement. “It is shameful that the House Republican leadership does not seem to share in our commitment to advancing the interests of agriculture and rural America.”

In response, one House Ag GOP lawmaker called the statement “a joke.” But the episode also revealed cascading farm bill frustration in the House. GOP aides and lawmakers say Scott has said in private that he wants to work with House Ag Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) on a farm bill, but the Georgia Democrat and his staff haven't engaged much since Republicans put forward a list of possible spending offsets for the farm bill.

“David Scott is bitching about funding and Republican suggestions, but never once have Democrats come to the table to offer solutions for their billion dollar proposals,” one GOP aide said.

Privately, House Republicans increasingly don’t believe House Democrats want to pass a farm bill this year, arguing that Democrats would rather push the bill into 2025 when they could retake the majority.

Things aren’t much better off in the Senate. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chamber’s most senior senator and Ag Committee member, recently lamented a lack of progress, again.

“What I’ve observed in the last six months is resistance by Democrats to putting more farm in the farm bill, which basically means an increase of reference pricing,” Grassley told reporters. “Until those things are worked out, [and] I don’t believe they’ve been worked out, we aren’t gonna make any progress in the Senate.”

Why it matters: The deadlock in both chambers is the result of a yearslong battle over limited resources in the farm bill.

Republicans drew an early red line that any farm bill must include increases to reference prices for commodity support programs. But freeing the money to do so would require cuts in other areas of the bill — namely the nutrition or conservation titles. Read more on the Senate spat.

Democrats are fiercely protecting the nearly $20 billion boost to the conservation title they secured for climate-smart agriculture from the Inflation Reduction Act and the nutrition title. Leaders like Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) have similarly drawn red lines that a new farm bill will not cut either title. Any progress on the farm bill in 2024 will hinge on the stalemate being broken, which has no clear exit path yet.

TWELVE DAYS OF AG-MAS

12 DAYS OF AG-MAS: D.C.’s largest agriculture groups have high hopes for the new year, so MA is polling them to see what they hope to unwrap this holiday season.

Without further ado, here are the first of MA’s inaugural 12 days of Ag-Mas:

The National Corn Growers Association is already celebrating: “On the first day of Christmas, Treasury gave to me, modified GREET modeling.”

On the second day of Ag-Mas, Farm Action would like Congress to: “Support America’s farmers and ranchers by passing the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act (OFF Act), which would bring transparency and accountability to agricultural checkoff programs, and keep checkoff funds out of the hands of organizations that lobby on behalf of the largest agribusiness corporations."

On the third day of Ag-Mas, The American Soybean Association “hopes for peace on earth, soy to the world, and tidings of great comfort and joy for farmers wishing soybeans will be a top crop in markets for trade, biofuels, livestock and aquaculture, and biobased in 2024.”

And on the fourth day of Ag-Mas, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s “wish for the new year is that fake farm groups run by animal activists will stop trying to put American farmers and ranchers out of business.”

MA is still accepting submissions for the 12 Days of Ag-Mas! Send submissions to your host at gdowns@politico.com.

Eye on the FDA

SCOTT PROBES FDA: Sen. Rick Scott last week fired off a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf seeking answers on lead contamination in cinnamon applesauce pouches.

The letter comes after POLITICO’s reporting that the FDA is investigating potentially purposeful, economically motivated contamination of the pouches.

What Scott said: “A recent news article has the FDA investigating this incident as a case of potential economic adulteration,” Scott wrote in the letter. “This is a serious issue because it demonstrates the vulnerability of the U.S. supply chain.”

What he’s asking: Scott asked specifically whether the FDA has instituted policies to ensure “heavy metals are not in common herbs and spices for sale to American consumers.” He also asked several questions appearing to probe whether the contaminated cinnamon could have originated in China.

For example, Scott asked whether FDA is investigating “the sourcing of the cinnamon from this recall product,” whether the FDA knows “where and how the cinnamon was contaminated in the supply chain,” and whether FDA is “concerned that one of the largest producers of cinnamon is Communist China which has a history of deception and failing to take responsibility for their economically adulterated products.”

GLOBAL PLAYBOOK IS TAKING YOU TO DAVOS! Unlock the insider's guide to one of the world's most influential gatherings as POLITICO's Global Playbook takes you behind the scenes of the 2024 World Economic Forum. Author Suzanne Lynch will be on the ground in the Swiss Alps, bringing you the exclusive conversations, shifting power dynamics and groundbreaking ideas shaping the agenda in Davos. Stay in the know with POLITICO's Global Playbook, your VIP pass to the world’s most influential gatherings. SUBSCRIBE NOW.

Row Crops

— Agriculture monopolies in Minnesota are getting attention from the DOJ and the state’s attorney general. (StarTribune)

— Agricultural diesel subsidies are becoming an issue in Germany. (Reuters)

— Western states brawling over water could hurt President Joe Biden, from our Annie Snider and Camille von Kaenel.

THAT’S ALL FOR MA! Drop us a line: gdowns@politico.com, meredithlee@politico.com, marciabrown@politico.com, mmartinez@politico.com, abehsudi@politico.com and ecadei@politico.com.