Climate-ag rally center stage

Presented by the National Young Farmers Coalition: Delivered every Monday by 10 a.m., Weekly Agriculture examines the latest news in agriculture and food politics and policy.

Mar 06, 2023 View in browser   By Garrett Downs Presented by the National Young Farmers Coalition With help from Marcia Brown QUICK FIX — A “Rally for Resilience” is taking place on the National Mall this week, with farmers and lobby groups set to call for a climate-friendly agenda in the 2023 farm bill. MA will be on the ground at the event. — FIRST IN MA: Top GOP lawmakers in both chambers wrote to Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack urging him to extend the comment period 30 days for upcoming changes to child nutrition programs. They argue it would place an undue burden on schools beleaguered by the pandemic. — President Biden’s Waters of the United States rule is on the chopping block in the House this week. He’s expected to veto it should it pass. HAPPY MONDAY, March 6. Welcome to Morning Ag. We’re your hosts, Garrett Downs and Meredith Lee Hill. Send tips to gdowns@politico.com and meredithlee@politico.com, and follow us @Morning_Ag.   A message from the National Young Farmers Coalition: Nearly half of all U.S. farmland is expected to change hands in the coming decades, and our lawmakers have a responsibility to ensure that land is transitioned equitably to the next generation of farmers. See why we’re calling for One Million Acres for the Future for young & BIPOC farmers in the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill.   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 CLIMATE-AG RALLY: More than a dozen farm groups including Farm Aid and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition are rallying for resilience this week, bringing in farmers from across the country to stump for the 2023 farm bill to address climate change. Background: The event’s organizers say they’ll ask lawmakers to make climate change a priority in the upcoming farm bill. They’ll specifically call for farmer-led climate solutions, racial justice and a focus on farmers and communities, not corporations in the upcoming farm bill. Who, what, where: The first-of-its-kind event will bring hundreds of farmers to Capitol Hill to lobby for climate-change efforts. It will run from Monday to Wednesday, with a rally at Freedom Plaza and a march to Capitol Hill planned on Tuesday. Singer John Mellencamp will perform live at the event. In addition to the rally and march, electric tractors will be on display on the Mall and there will be demonstrations of regenerative agriculture techniques. On Wednesday, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) will participate in a media event with farmers and advocates pushing climate programs in the upcoming farm bill. The farmers and advocates will then visit Capitol Hill for a lobby day. The playing field: Climate and the farm bill’s conservation title is shaping up to be one of the more contentious issues in the new farm bill. A bitter partisan battle has already surfaced over what to do with a nearly $20 billion injection into the USDA’s voluntary conservation programs in the Inflation Reduction Act. Democrats and climate groups argue this money needs to be left where it is, while Republicans are eyeing taking a slice of it for other priorities, like the farm safety net.   We’re spilling the tea (and drinking tons of it in our newsroom) in U.K. politics with our latest newsletter, London Playbook PM. Get to know all the movers and shakers in Westminster and never miss a beat of British politics with a free subscription. Don’t miss out, we’ve got some exciting moves coming. Sign up today.     FIRST IN MA, HOLD THE PHONE: Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the respective top Republicans with oversight of child nutrition programs, are calling on Vilsack to pump the brakes for an additional 30 days on USDA’s proposed changes to the child nutrition programs.  Remember: USDA is updating the programs to bring them more into line with the 2020 dietary guidelines for Americans. The proposed changes include new restrictions on sodium and sugar for school meals. USDA is separately pursuing nutritional changes to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). Marcia reported on the details when USDA first announced the new proposed guidelines. What’s the Foxx say?: Boozman and Foxx told Vilsack the new requirements would force “district leaders to focus less on students’ academic progress and more on securing funding and workers to meet the demands of these regulations,” in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic that hindered learning and set some students behind. Because of this, the pair say schools and stakeholders “should be afforded additional time to review and comment on the proposed rule.” Budget hawks: The lawmakers also take issue with the costs of the program changes, which they say “will result in additional expenditures between $220 and $274 million annually, which equates to $1.4 billion over six school years.” They say that cost will have to be absorbed by the schools, which could undermine the “quality of education” if they have to make cuts as a result.   A message from the National Young Farmers Coalition:   WOTUS VOTE: House Republicans will force a vote on a resolution to overturn the Biden administration’s Waters of the United States rule, which farm lobbies and Republicans have lined up against. Remember: The new rule tries to again clarify what a WOTUS is, a long-running saga that has left landowners and farmers flummoxed as to what is a federally regulated body of water. Biden’s rule, finalized in December, cuts a path in between the Obama administration’s expansive 2015 rule and the Trump administration’s narrow 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule, and it will grow federal authority incrementally beyond where it stood prior to 2015, our Annie Snider wrote then. But farm groups slammed the new rule, saying it would result in onerous regulations and burdens for farmers. Quest to overturn: Last week, a House Committee voted to pass the resolution to overturn the rule, teeing up the resolution for a floor vote.It is on the schedule for a vote this week, where it will likely pass. What’s next: It’s unclear what will become of the legislation in the Senate. But it forces some rural Democrats into an uncomfortable position if it comes up for a vote. Some, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), have already vowed to vote for the resolution. Biden is likely to veto the resolution if it is passed. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is again considering WOTUS, which could upend the Biden rule. BIDEN BUDGET INCOMING: Biden will release his budget on Thursday, the table-setter for debate over federal spending for fiscal 2024. The budget comes as House Republicans are setting up a fight over the debt ceiling, which would have to be raised to avoid crippling default. As we’ve reported, some House Republicans are calling for cuts to key food assistance programs like SNAP in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.   DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID.     Row Crops — California is on track to break a snowpack record set 40 years ago, signaling relief for a state that has grown desperately dry in recent years, our Wes Venteicher reports. The snow was nearly 10 feet deep at a station south of Lake Tahoe on Friday, said Sean de Guzman, manager of the state Department of Water Resources’ Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting section. — The National Potato Council elected its new president, RJ Andrus, at the trade group’s annual Washington Summit. — Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) is taking a sect of the fishing industry to task in order to protect her state’s prized industry, Adam Federman reports for POLITICO. 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.   A message from the National Young Farmers Coalition: We are at a pivotal moment in our nation’s history: nearly half of all U.S. farmland is expected to change hands in the coming decades, and who inherits that land will determine the future of our country’s health and wellbeing. Young and BIPOC farmers are leading the next generation of agriculture, but far too many have faced barriers to affordable land access that are rooted in racist policies and discriminatory practices. With policy development well underway for the 2023 Farm Bill, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to right these historic wrongs and ensure equitable access to farmland for tens of thousands of young and BIPOC farmers over the next decade. Learn more about the need for equitable farm policies and how you can help the National Young Farmers Coalition and Chipotle support the next generation of farmers in the U.S.     Follow us on Twitter Emily Cadei @emilycadei Adam Beshudi @ABehsudi Meredith Lee @meredithllee Garrett Downs @_garrettdowns Marcia Brown @Marcia_Brown9   Follow us

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