No Consensus on Livestock Pricing Issues Following Senate Hearing

Supreme Court gives victory to private property rights, will decide on Prop 12 case Monday

Change in format today because I am giving a speech this morning at the Cotton Warehouse Assn. of America (CWAA) annual meeting taking place at the Greenbrier in West Virginia.

— Senate hearing on livestock pricing. No consensus as expected. This is why Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) wants more time for the industry to reach agreement (that will take a major effort and time) and for panel lawmakers to discuss the topic. Bottom line: Later rather than sooner. It’s easier to talk about the topic than deal with it.

— Bolster crop insurance but a permanent disaster fund would be good. Farmers told a House Ag subcommittee that improving and enhancing the crop insurance program would be a positive for improving the farmer safety net, but any changes for crop insurance have to be done so that the program is not negatively affected. Farmers also said they would back a permanent disaster aid effort as they want something that is simpler and delivers aid faster than the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) has. Farmers also said they would like to see the acreage bases and yields revisited relative to the farm bill safety net programs like Ag Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs.

— Permanent ag disaster fund? House Ag Committee Ranking Member GT Thompson (R-Pa.) says he will support such a fund and will work with others on it if it:

    (1) Does not compete with crop insurance
    (2) Must be easy to implement
    (3) Must respond to disasters quickly

— The Senate could clear the Growing Climate Solutions Act today. It has more than 50 Senate sponsors and would put USDA in charge of certifying technical advisers and carbon credit verifiers. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is pushing an amendment that Sen. Stabenow says would seriously weaken the bill, which is intended to speed development of ag carbon markets. Lee’s amendment would instead authorize USDA to publicize “common practices and common qualifications” of technical advisers and credit verifiers. Stabenow says the amendment would “gut the purpose of the bill.”

— Aggies will watch the Supreme Court on Monday. Reason: The highest court will consider whether to take up the meatpacking industry’s petition for review of California’s Proposition 12 and its prohibition on the sale of pork and veal unless those products are raised in sync with animal welfare requirements. The North American Meat Institute and hog stress the rules will increase sow mortality and decrease pigs per litter without benefitting consumers.

— Expect Biden and Vilsack to detail the revised dairy donation program when the two visit Wisconsin June 29. As of this morning, the proposed rule on this topic, is still pending at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) which received it on June 9. (BTW, no proposed rule yet has been sent to OMB regarding the RFS.)

— The Supreme Court’s 6-3 Cedar Point Nursery decision this week significantly bolsters protections of private property rights. Two growers in California challenged a 1975 regulation by the state’s Agricultural Labor Relations Board that requires farmers to allow union organizers onto their property three hours a day for 120 days each year. They argued that the regulation was equivalent to a time-limited government easement and thus constituted what’s known as a “per se” physical taking of property. Bottom line: the California regulation giving union organizers the right to recruit members on farm property is unconstitutional. Proponents of the decision say the Court’s conservative majority has dealt a major victory for property rights.

— Legislation proposing $105 billion over the next decade for the country’s drinking water systems, including $45 billion to fully replace lead service lines throughout the country, is heading to the House floor. The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced the measure (HR 3291) on a 32-24 vote yesterday. The bill would authorize $53 billion over 10 years for a critical state drinking water financing program, the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. The bill is expected to be one of two major water infrastructure measures incorporated into the larger infrastructure package Congress now is assembling.

     The House next week will consider on the floor the other portion, which focuses on wastewater. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in early June advanced that bill (HR 1915) out of committee. The Senate in April passed its bipartisan water legislation (S 914), which includes both drinking water and wastewater infrastructure provisions.

— More infrastructure talks today. President Joe Biden, eager for a bipartisan infrastructure deal, will welcome the Democratic and Republican senators crafting a $559 billion plan to the White House for talks today. Members of the group of 10 senators directly involved in the negotiations expressed optimism that they were close to a deal with the president. “We are very, very close,” Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), one of the leaders of the Senate group, said after Wednesday’s round of discussions with Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president and other Biden aides. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the talks had produced enough progress toward a potential agreement that the “president has invited the group to come to the White House to discuss this in person.”

— Global cases of Covid-19 are at 179,635,444 with 3,892,818 deaths, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. case count is at 33,577,712 with 602,837 deaths. The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center said that there have been 319,872,053 doses administered, 150,787,303 have been fully vaccinated, or 45.9% of the U.S. population.

— Weather outlook from NWS: There is a Moderate Risk of excessive rainfall over parts of the Central Plains/Middle Mississippi Valley into the Western Ohio Valley through Saturday morning... ...There is an Enhanced Risk of severe thunderstorms over parts of the Central Plains/Middle Mississippi Valley through Friday morning... ...Fire weather concerns are forecast across the Northern Great Basin and Northern California; heat returns to the Pacific Northwest on Saturday.