Can presidents lower food prices?

Presented by Organization for Competitive Markets: Delivered every Monday by 10 a.m., Weekly Agriculture examines the latest news in agriculture and food politics and policy.
Sep 16, 2024 View in browser
 
POLITICO's Weekly Agriculture newsletter logo

By Marcia Brown and Grace Yarrow

Presented by Organization for Competitive Markets

With help from David Lim

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris participate during an ABC News presidential debate.

Despite what both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are promising on the campaign trail, the next president has limited options to lower food costs in the way many voters might hope. | Alex Brandon/AP

QUICK FIX

— Voters’ expectations that presidents lower grocery prices could swing results in November. But how much can the executive branch really do to cut the costs of food?

— Boar’s Head is shutting down its Virginia plant linked to the largest listeria outbreak in more than a decade.

— Animal welfare groups are battling over what some call a “humane-washing” food labeling program.

IT’S MONDAY, SEPT. 16. Welcome to Morning Agriculture and Happy National Guacamole Day! We’re your hosts Marcia Brown and Grace Yarrow. Send tips and your favorite guac spots to marciabrown@politico.com and gyarrow@politico.com and follow us at @Morning_Ag.

 

A message from Organization for Competitive Markets:

In 2013, the Shuanghui Group purchased Smithfield with a loan from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Today, Smithfield owns 1 in every 6 sows in the U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompsons seems determined to back China and undermine states’ rights in his Farm Bill by including a version of the Hinson-Marshall EATS Act. Urge Congress to reject any China attack on states’ rights that nullifies Prop 12 in the Farm Bill and to oppose any Farm Bill that contains EATS-like language.

 

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Driving the day

REALITY CHECK ON FOOD PRICE POLICY: A majority of U.S. consumers believe elected officials, of one party or the other, can help lower their grocery bills — an expectation that could help swing the election, given how important inflation is to likely voters in 2024, your host Marcia and Paula Friedrich report.

The truth is likely to disappoint them. Despite what both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are promising on the campaign trail, the next leader of the free world has limited options to lower food costs in the speedy or widespread way many voters might hope. (Just ask President Joe Biden, who struggled for much of his presidency to show Americans he was reining in grocery prices).

That said, POLITICO spoke to a number of economists who argued there are good reasons to go after some of the drivers of high food costs, even if the impacts won’t be felt for some time.

POLITICO took a look at some of the policies Biden, Harris and Trump have used, or said they plan to use, to address high food prices and the limitations of each. Neither the Harris nor Trump campaigns responded to a request for comment. Read the full story here.

AROUND THE AGENCIES

LISTERIA RESPONSE: Boar’s Head is shutting down its Virginia plant linked to a recent listeria outbreak that has killed at least nine people and hospitalized at least 57, according to the CDC.

The closure will impact “hundreds of hard-working employees,” Boar’s Head said in an announcement. “We do not take lightly our responsibility as one of the area’s largest employers. But, under these circumstances, we feel that a plant closure is the most prudent course. We will work to assist each of our employees in the transition process.”

The company is also permanently discontinuing liverwurst after finding that the listeria contamination started from a “specific production process” that was used only for liverwurst products.

TORRES SMALL GOES ABROAD: Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small was in Brazil for a G20 agriculture ministers meeting. On a press call Friday, she said the group focused on sustainability in agriculture and ways to quantify farmers’ improvements. The group also reached a declaration on sustainability for the first time in two years.

The deputy secretary also raised the issue of sustainable aviation fuel with Brazil.

“One of my priorities coming in is ensuring that Brazil gets the message that we want to work together on sustainable aviation fuel but we have to be at a level playing field,” she said. The U.S. has a 2 percent tariff on Brazilian ethanol while Brazil has an “unfair and unjust” 18 percent tariff on U.S. ethanol, she said.

ICYMI — VILSACK’S NEXT STEP: Longtime USDA chief Tom Vilsack has suggested in recent comments to reporters that he isn’t ruling out returning to USDA should Vice President Kamala Harris win the presidential race this November, a sentiment confirmed by three people who’ve recently spoken with him and were granted anonymity to discuss the matter.

He seems to be “keeping his options open,” said one of the people.

Asked last month if he would stay at USDA for a possible Harris administration, Vilsack replied that his focus would always be on creating “economic opportunity … regardless of the capacity where I might find myself.”

When MA asked him last week if he wanted to stay at USDA should Harris win, Vilsack didn’t respond. Read more for Pro subscribers here.

 

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Lobby Watch

A CLASH IN THE ANIMAL WELFARE COMMUNITY: Several animal welfare groups are showing a united front after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals accused the groups of lending legitimacy to a “humane-washing” labeling program. The program, Global Animal Partnership, is one of the nation’s most well-known animal welfare certification programs — and is used by Whole Foods. Consumers often pay a premium for animal products boasting the label.

A letter from PETA is roiling a community dedicated to reshaping the animal agriculture industry to be less cruel. Animal welfare groups still on GAP’s board argue that engaging with the program from the inside is more effective at improving the lives of millions of animals than PETA’s strategy.

Context: PETA was also briefly on the board of GAP when the certification scheme was formed. Animal rights groups believed that partnering with such an organization would help improve animal welfare by giving retailers a financial incentive to stock certified suppliers knowing that consumers would pay more for the assurance that animals were raised more ethically.

Now, PETA and its allies argue that GAP’s program smacks of “humane-washing.” In 2020, Farm Forward also withdrew after more than a decade on the GAP board, arguing “GAP is no longer a tool for change, but is increasingly a marketing scheme functioning to benefit massive corporations.”

Details: PETA is demanding the Humane Society of the United States, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Compassion in World Farming leave the board of GAP after PETA exposed severe animal welfare violations at a GAP-certified farm.

The incident, at Plainville Farms in Pennsylvania in 2021, resulted in former workers being charged with 141 counts of cruelty to animals. There have been 10 convictions. GAP ultimately suspended the farm from the program. According to Amber Canavan, PETA’s vegan campaign project manager, the 10th conviction in the case prompted PETA’s public demands. The organization is also working on a public petition.

Canavan argued that GAP’s program is failing to reverse or slow the trend toward increasingly concentrated livestock operations, known as concentrated animal feeding operations.

The Humane Society deferred a request for comment to a blog post on the issue.

Response to PETA: Madison Longenecker, a spokesperson for Compassion in World Farming, said that the group “has always maintained a pragmatic approach.” However, Longenecker said the PETA’s letter does not change its position on being on GAP’s board because such certifications “can play an important role” and “ultimately end the cruelties of factory farming.”

Likewise, a spokesperson for ASPCA acknowledged the limitations of certification schemes, noting that they can’t prevent deliberate instances of animal cruelty. Still, such programs are critical for accountability, said Daisy Freund, ASPCA vice president of farm animal welfare, said in a statement.

For its part, a GAP spokesperson called PETA’s allegations wrong and irresponsible, pointing to a new GAP certification standard created as a result of the Plainsville case.

“Certification programs minimize the risk of objectionable practices, swiftly punish it when it is uncovered and tirelessly reduce missteps,” the spokesperson said.

BIRD FLU OUTBREAK

AVIAN INFLUENZA IN HUMANS: The CDC disclosed Friday that a close contact of a Missouri individual who was hospitalized and tested positive for avian influenza was also sick at the same time, our David Lim reported.

The second individual, a household contact, was not tested for avian flu and subsequently recovered, according to a weekly U.S. influenza surveillance report published by the federal public health agency.

It is unclear when the CDC became aware of the second individual. On Thursday, CDC Principal Deputy Director Nirav Shah told reporters the CDC had not seen evidence of person-to-person transmission. He maintained that the original Missouri patient’s close contacts did not have any symptoms.

Friday’s disclosure raises more questions about whether the CDC is doing enough on the tracking of human avian flu infections. This week, the agency reassured the public that the risk of avian flu is low.

Row Crops

— The popularity of hard seltzers and lower alcohol consumption in general have led to plummeting barley demand from beer makers. (Reuters)

Why does the government do almost nothing to prevent people from dying of extreme heat? (POLITICO Pro)

— Dairy processors are planning to invest across the U.S. to meet consumers’ surging demand for cheese. (Bloomberg)

— Climate change threatens many traditional foods in Alaska. But it's also making farming more possible. (NPR)

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.

 

A message from Organization for Competitive Markets:

No one wants China to emerge as the winner from Congress passing the 2024 Farm Bill, but that’s what Chairman Thompson is enabling with language similar to the EATS Act (H.R. 4417/S. 2019). They say it will eliminate “burdensome” regulations. But state level safeguards effectively deter wholesale further takeover by foreign conglomerates. EATS-like language is a gift to China’s multinational corporations, like “万洲国际/WH Group that bought Smithfield.

By eliminating state laws, EATS Act or language like it will enables China to more rapidly takeover American agriculture. It sets a precedent that’s rattling other corners of agriculture, too. Take it from Moms for America president and founder Kimberly Fletcher: “Smithfield’s EATS Act is the greatest threat to food safety and security that Moms across America have seen in half a century, and we have launched our 500,000 moms across America to defeat EATS and any Farm Bill that contains it.”

 
 

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