Ag braces for port strike

Sep 30, 2024

With help from Marcia Brown and David Lim

The Dali container vessel after striking the Francis Scott Key Bridge that collapsed into the Patapsco River in Baltimore.

The International Longshoremen’s Association, which represents tens of thousands of dockworkers, could strike as soon as 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1 if a contract isn't reached before then. | Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images

QUICK FIX

— A looming port strike is raising concerns from ag groups as exporters prepare for substantial consequences on U.S. producers and consumers.

— The farm bill extension passed in 2023 officially expires today, just after lawmakers headed home with no new reauthorization, pushing talks until after the election.

— FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said avian influenza in dairy cattle across the country is “very troublesome right now.”

IT’S MONDAY, SEPT. 30. Welcome to Morning Agriculture. I’m your host Grace Yarrow. Send tips and who you would cast to play top ag officials on SNL to gyarrow@politico.com and follow us at @Morning_Ag.

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Driving the day

AG WATCHING LOOMING STRIKE: The U.S. agriculture industry is bracing for production delays and other consequences if workers at ports on the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast strike.

The International Longshoremen’s Association, which represents tens of thousands of dockworkers, could strike as soon as 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1 if a contract isn't reached before then.

Ag concerns: Nearly 200 agriculture groups warned President Joe Biden of the potential fallout of such a strike in a letter sent to the White House Friday, asking for help to mitigate the economic toll of the strike and other transportation challenges. The letter, headed by the National Grain and Feed Association, highlighted that “the impact on the supply chain will quickly reverberate throughout the agricultural economy, shutting down operations and potentially lowering farmgate prices” if the strike takes effect. About 40 percent of U.S. containerized agricultural exports move through the East and Gulf Coast ports, the groups wrote.

“Obviously you're going to see some [exports] get shifted to the West Coast, but there's probably not going to be the capacity to get everything you need to do there,” NGFA President and CEO Mike Seyfert told us Friday. “You're going to see increased shipping cost, that impacts the agribusiness, and that impacts the producers.”

USDA’s view: In a call with reporters Saturday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack encouraged the union and the ports to stay at the table. He noted that for the agriculture industry, the impact is more significant on the import side, especially “valued-added” items from Europe.

“We haven't had a circumstance where we've had a strike in 50 years,” he said. “So we know that it can get done.”

On the Hill

FARM BILL’S EXPIRATION DATE: The farm bill extension lawmakers passed last year expires today (on paper). But, as lawmakers and your favorite ag newsletter have repeatedly noted, a new extension or final bill won’t need to happen until the end of the calendar year, when key programs actually run out of funding.

Top negotiators have long eyed the lame duck session as the make-or-break time to decide the path forward on a farm bill. Ag lawmakers met on Thursday last week to discuss the farm bill ahead of the October recess and their staffs held more discussions Friday.

House Ag Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) told us last week that his discussions with Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) have been focused mostly on how to get a new reauthorization done, not details of an emergency package that ag industry and rank-and-file members have been pushing for.

“But I think she's probably hearing the same thing I am in terms of the need, with the crisis with market volatility and natural disasters,” Thompson said Wednesday.

Stabenow has said it’s “just too early” to talk about an emergency package. “We’ve got to see if we can get a full five-year farm bill.”

FIRST IN MA — BOAR’S HEAD BACKLASH: Dozens of lawmakers are criticizing Boar’s Head deli meat company and USDA’s food safety subagency for not taking adequate steps to prevent a listeria outbreak linked to 10 deaths.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) headed two letters, first shared with Morning Ag, in response to the outbreak. The group of 23 House lawmakers and three senators asked USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service how the subagency failed to address “egregious sanitation problems” at a Boar’s Head facility and why inspectors observing “noncompliance” did not lead to any enforcement actions.

“It is appalling that seemingly no enforcement actions have been taken against Boar’s Head despite the reported repeated records of major noncompliance,” the letter reads.

A group of 20 House members and two senators also wrote to a Boar’s Head executive to request more details on what led up to the recall: “With the science we have available, there is no excuse for the tragic loss of life that has occurred as a result of this outbreak.”

A Boar's Head company spokesperson declined to comment last week on legal issues associated with the recall.

FIRST IN MA: Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) introduced a bill to create education programs for new farmers with mentorship and training opportunities, designed to address obstacles beginning farmers face in accessing information from federal agencies.

“Our farming population is aging, and we are facing a significant shortage of skilled new farmers. This program ensures the quick and efficient exchange of local knowledge–providing beginning farmers with ways to overcome adoption barriers,” Vasquez said in a statement.

Lotanna Obodozie, climate policy director of the National Young Farmers Coalition, pointed out in a statement that younger farmers are looking at more regenerative and climate-smart practices, but can be held back by economic uncertainty and lack of connections to other farmers.

LAB-GROWN MEAT CONCERNS: Reps. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) and Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) led a letter first obtained by MA to the director of national intelligence and USDA’s director of homeland security urging action to understand the agricultural implications of Chinese biotechnology innovation.

The letter is a response to the director of national intelligence’s annual threat assessment, which the lawmakers wrote showed China as a competitor attempting to lead the “broader biotechnological landscape,” notably through research in lab-grown (or cultivated) meat products.

“Should China secure a dominant position in the global innovative protein market, it could fundamentally alter food supply dynamics worldwide and give China control of key aspects of global food security dynamics. Put simply, we cannot allow China to control more of the world’s food supply than it already does,” the lawmakers, joined by nine other House Republicans, wrote. The letter calls for the federal offices to coordinate a “focused analysis” of China’s advancements and any strategic measures the U.S. should consider to respond.

AROUND THE AGENCIES

BIRD FLU: FDA Commissioner Robert Califf acknowledged Friday that avian influenza is "very troublesome right now" because of the number of dairy cattle around the U.S. infected with the virus.

"If we have the bad luck of some recombination or mutation in the virus that makes it attach to human lungs, we can have the next big pandemic," Califf said in remarks during a webinar hosted by the Alliance for a Stronger FDA. He added that if the virus is not contained and starts to affect humans who aren't connected to farms, the risk is "substantial."

"H5N1 is contained on farms, and we're working through all the issues to have an effective surveillance system," Califf said.

His remarks came just as the CDC was announcing that additional contacts of a bird flu patient in Missouri also later showed symptoms, our David Lim reports.

Labeling agenda: Also during the webinar, Califf said he was “optimistic” that the FDA would finalize its update to the definition of “healthy” as it’s used on food packaging. Califf is “hopeful” that his agency will also finalize its front-of-pack labeling proposal.

“We've learned that putting things on the front of the pack and [with] the right labeling, the industry does move. It does change,” he said.

VILSACK IN ITALY: The secretary was in Syracuse, Italy, over the weekend for a G7 agricultural ministers meeting. Vilsack told reporters in a press call Saturday morning that conversations focused on global food security, building opportunities for small- and mid-sized farmers and expanding climate-smart agriculture, Marcia reports.

He noted that the countries acknowledged a shared set of challenges, such as climate change, the war in Ukraine and supply chain issues — “all of which has had an impact on ag production, biodiversity, land and soil health, water availability and rural communities across the G7,” he said. “We have a shared set of tools that we can use individually and collaboratively to address these challenges, starting with rules-based and risk-based, science-based, free and fair trading system with no export restrictions.”

IN THE STATES

CALIFORNIA WORLD: Gov. Gavin Newsom signed or vetoed a host of bills over the weekend reshaping agriculture and food in the Golden State. He signed a law banning certain food dyes linked to health problems from school meals. A review of the widely-banned herbicide, paraquat, will be fast-tracked under a new state law, and octopus farming for human consumption will be banned under a new bipartisan law.

Newsom also vetoed a bill intended to protect farmworkers from heat illness. The state will also crack down on vague language guiding consumers on food expiration dates in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, under a new law Newsom signed Saturday.

Row Crops

— A number of Senate Ag Democrats, including Stabenow, are requesting in a letter that Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack continue funding for the Local Food Purchase Assistance program to address food insecurity and create market opportunities for U.S. producers.

— A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Reps. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) and David Valadao (R-Calif.) introduced a supplemental appropriations bill Friday to provide USDA with $14 billion to help producers impacted by natural disasters in 2023.

— The U.S. Southeast is grappling with rising death tolls, a lack of vital supplies in isolated, flood-stricken areas and the widespread loss of homes, farms and property while the devastating toll of Hurricane Helene becomes more clear. (The Associated Press)

— Salvadoran chefs in D.C. broke the world record for largest pupusa (20 feet!) over the weekend. (The Washington Post)

— EPA’s Vulnerable Species Action Plan establishes a framework for mitigation measures to protect 27 plants and animals from pesticides.

THAT’S ALL FOR MA! Drop us a line and send us your agriculture job announcements or events: gyarrow@politico.com, meredithlee@politico.com, marciabrown@politico.com, abehsudi@politico.com and ecadei@politico.com.