| | | | |  | | By Garrett Downs | Presented by JBS USA | | | | — Whole Foods paused procuring lobster caught in the Gulf of Maine. It's after a pair of seafood sustainability watchdogs said the fishery poses a threat to the right whale population. — ICYMI: Regenerative agriculture has been picking up steam in the lead-up to the farm bill, and proponents say it will save farmers money. We have some more viewpoints on the practices for our Morning Ag readers. — Ukraine is launching a new food program to send grain to Africa. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hosted top Western officials for the announcement and the U.S. kicked in $20 million to the initiative. HAPPY MONDAY, NOV. 28. Welcome to Morning Ag. I'm your host, Garrett Downs. Send tips to gdowns@politico.com and @_garrettdowns and follow us at @Morning_Ag .
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| | | LOBSTER PINCHED AGAIN: Whole Foods will stop procuring lobster from the Gulf of Maine until the fishery has one of its revoked sustainability standards restored, a spokesperson for the chain told MA. Context: Whole Foods is the latest, and largest, food retailer to put Maine lobster on ice after the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch demoted it to a "red" avoid status and the Marine Stewardship Council revoked its sustainability label. Both revocations prompted an uproar from Maine's governor and the state's congressional delegation, who argue that no whale deaths have ever been attributed to the state's lobster industry. Seafood Watch's listing several months ago prompted retailers like HelloFresh and Blue Apron to stop stocking it, and it also bled into a competitive House race . MSC's came earlier this month, stripping the crustacean of a label sought after by retailers as a mark of sustainability. Both watchdogs have pointed to a court case that found the lobster fishery and rules from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were not doing enough to protect the scarce right whale population, which numbers around 340. What lawmakers are saying: Gov. Janet Mills, joined by the entire Maine congressional delegation, said in a statement "the Marine Stewardship Council, with retailers following suit, wrongly and blindly decided to follow the recommendations of misguided environmental groups rather than science." The delegation, led by Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) and Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), previously introduced legislation to block federal funding from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Seafood Watch. Golden told MA after the Seafood Watch report that he had his staff looking into ways to work with Republicans to change the Endangered Species Act to protect the lobster industry. Whole Foods' reasoning: A spokesperson for Whole Foods told MA that the stores will continue to sell lobster procured before the suspension and "red" listing. The store claims they only sell seafood with either a "yellow" or "green" listing from Seafood Watch or a sustainability label from MSC. If the fishery regains either of those, it will resume procurement, the spokesperson said.
| | | | A message from JBS USA: What food producers bring to the table should sustain families—and our planet—for generations. That's why, at JBS, we are investing heavily in achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. By prioritizing sustainable food production today, we're able to help ensure a thriving food system for all. Learn More | | | REGENERATING RICHES: Some agriculture lobbyists and environmental activists believe regenerative agriculture is a way to make farming more climate-friendly that both Republicans and Democrats can support. The reason is: It can help out farmers' bottom lines. Refresh: Regenerative agriculture consists of a set of practices aimed at restoring the health of the soil by returning carbon to the ground. These can be practices like cover cropping, no-till, rotational grazing, buffer strips and other methods. ICYMI: Your host wrote a story on this last week, which you can read here . Today, we have some outtakes from that story for MA readers. Organic v. Regenerative: Rep. G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.), the likely incoming chair of the House Ag Committee, has posed concerns that the regenerative movement is trying to push a wholesale transition to organic farming. He panned a recent hearing on regenerative, saying in his opening statement that "today's panelists do not represent the breadth of the conservation movement in the United States, but a small minority that wants to define 'regenerative agriculture' as only organic." But there's disagreement on whether regenerative has to be organic. One of those panelists, regenerative farmer Rick Clark, told MA he doesn't see it that way. He said that "everyone is trying to tie together organic and regenerative, and that's not the case, you can do both but you don't have to do both," Clark said. That would mean regenerative farms could still use synthetic inputs but would need less of them because of the health of their soil. Others like Jeff Tkach at the Rodale Institute told your host that regenerative organic is the way forward, which is what Rodale provides in their regenerative organic certification . What are the stakes?: Rob Myers, the director of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture at the University of Missouri, said the stakes are high. "We've lost about half the organic matter, or carbon, in our soils since we've started farming them," Myers said. That organic matter is critical to plant growth and crop yields. What does a win look like for regenerative? Finian Makepeace , who helped found Regenerate America, the leading coalition lobbying for regenerative to have a place in the farm bill, told MA that a win in 2023 could be more simple than a full-scale overhaul. "For example, increasing the number of farmers planting cover crops from 4% to 15% by ensuring they get the technical assistance and training they need through updated curriculum and reallocation of existing funds to training programs," would look like a win, Makepeace said.
| | | | POLITICO APP USERS: UPGRADE YOUR APP BY DECEMBER 19! We recently upgraded the POLITICO app with a fresh look and improved features for easier access to POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Starting December 19, users will no longer have access to the previous version of the app. Update your app today to stay on top of essential political news, insights, and analysis from the best journalists in the business. UPDATE iOS APP – UPDATE ANDROID APP . | | | | | GRAIN FROM UKRAINE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday received top Western officials as he officially launched a new food initiative to export grain to Africa, our Giorgio Leali writes . Zelenskyy hosted prime ministers and heads of state from Belgium, Lithuania, Poland and Hungary in Kyiv on the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor — the famine that Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union inflicted on Ukrainians — and officially launched a "Grain from Ukraine" initiative with governments and international organizations including the United Nations World Food Program . What it means: Under the new initiative, Ukraine would send up to 60 grain ships next year to poorer countries in Africa, the Ukrainian government told the Guardian . Ukraine first presented the new initiative at a G-20 meeting earlier this month with the goal of reaching at least 5 million people by next summer. Funding: Several countries today announced the amount of their financial support to the initiative. Among the backers: the U.S. ($20 million), France ($20 million), the U.K. ($6 million), Sweden ($9.5 million), Austria ($3.9 million) and Canada ($30 million). Asked about the EU contribution to the "Grain from Ukraine" initiative, a European Commission spokesperson said that "the Commission will finance the transport of 40,000 tons of Ukrainian grain." That new aid "comes in addition to the recent €1 billion announced to reinforce the Solidarity Lanes, which have allowed the export of 17 million tons so far and the only way for Ukraine to export other non-agricultural goods," the spokesperson said.
| | | | A message from JBS USA:   | | | | | | — Bird flu has struck again, this time in Nebraska, the AP reports . The outbreak will cause about 1.8 million chickens to be slaughtered, adding to an already significant tally of more than 50 million birds this year. — The global food supply chain is leading to more turbulent food prices, The Wall Street Journal reports . — Food banks in Oregon are being forced to tighten their belts as food insecurity swells, Investigate West reports .
| | | | A message from JBS USA: As a food company committed to feeding larger needs, at JBS we believe in sustainable food production. There's nothing more important than ensuring that our planet can continue to feed us all long into the future.
Because of that, we're leading the industry in change, targeting 2040 to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and investing over $1B to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, our emissions.
In doing so, we're setting a new standard for food production—one that allows sustainable practices, quality products, and affordable prices to go hand in hand. It's our way of bringing more to the table. Learn More | | | THAT'S ALL FOR MA. Drop us a line: gdowns@politico.com , meredithlee@politico.com , marciabrown@politico.com , abehsudi@politico.com and ecadei@politico.com . | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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