| | | | |  | | By Garrett Downs and Marcia Brown | | | | | — Congressional appropriators reached a deal on funding totals for each of the 12 appropriations bills, including the bill to fund the Agriculture Department and Food and Drug Administration. — Here’s how quasi-government programs are fueling those pork and dairy TikTok ads. — Participating in dry January? The beer industry says they’re here to help. HAPPY MONDAY, Jan. 29. We’re your hosts, Garrett Downs and Marcia Brown. Send tips to gdowns@politico.com and marciabrown@politico.com, and follow us at @Morning_Ag.
| | A message from CropLife America: U.S. farmers’ access to pesticides, which are critical for growing crops in an affordable and sustainable way, is in jeopardy because of misguided state regulatory efforts. Over 360 agricultural and other groups support the bipartisan Agricultural Labeling Uniformity Act to help the U.S. correct course while still allowing for local use case restrictions. Find out how the Agricultural Labeling Uniformity Act protects America’s farmers. | | | | | | | 
Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (center) and House Appropriations Chair Kay Granger reached the deal late Friday night. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | AGENCY FUNDING DEAL REACHED: Lawmakers have reached a deal on totals for a dozen funding bills, a critical step to funding the government through the remainder of fiscal year 2024, our Caitlin Emma reported over the weekend. Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and House Appropriations Chair Kay Granger (R-Texas) reached the deal late Friday night. Neither side has released the numbers, which will update each government agency’s budget for the remainder of the fiscal year. Context: The deal comes after top appropriators spent weeks hashing out how to distribute a $1.7 trillion topline accord agreed to by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker Mike Johnson earlier this month. The numbers are hotly anticipated at USDA. The agency and nutrition advocates are also hoping that Congress will provide extra funds for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children — which faces a funding shortfall and will begin to turn away eligible recipients without supplemental funding. The White House had requested an extra $1 billion for the program, which helps pregnant women, new mothers and children afford food — funding Congress has yet to provide. What’s next: The latest stopgap spending measure keeping the government funded will expire in March, with USDA and FDA running out of cash on March 1. Another set of agencies will expire on March 8. Congress has until then to pass a full suite of government funding bills that will keep agencies funded through Sept. 30, or fall back on another stopgap. Now that each of the 12 bills toplines have been set, that task becomes significantly easier. The process is still far from over, however. Now appropriators need to use the toplines to hash out finer policy debates and craft 12 new appropriations bills that can pass both the House and Senate and ultimately be signed into law by President Joe Biden. That is likely where determinations will be made on hot-button issues like WIC. Farm bill clash: As we’ve reported, the long-delayed appropriations process threatens to further derail the farm bill in 2024.
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| | CHECKOFF ADS: A promotional ad campaign for the U.S. dairy industry in the 1990s posed the question, “Got Milk?” — and quickly entered the cultural zeitgeist. Now, industry groups promoting U.S. agriculture are trying to replicate that phenomenon, using social media platforms to woo a new generation of consumers, reports Marcia and Hailey Fuchs over the weekend. Some of their latest ads show women marathoners boasting about chocolate milk’s recovery drink status on TikTok and cattle ranchers joyously sharing their land with rock climbers on Instagram. A young woman, dancing to pop tunes, appears shocked to hear that pork has mood-boosting powers. The new wave of social media is resurfacing longstanding concerns about the organizations that created them — promotional groups managed by government-appointed boards, paid for with hundreds of millions in government-mandated fees on farmers and overseen by officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Known as “checkoff programs,” they have faced criticism about accountability and efficacy, as well as doubts about the federal government’s role in promoting meat, dairy and other agricultural products to consumers. What they’re saying: The government should not “be hiding marketing messages through social media influencers in order to get people to eat more beef during a time of climate crisis and high rates of chronic disease,” argued Parke Wilde, professor of food and nutrition policy and programs at Tufts University. Critics of the programs, which are authorized by Congress, are now looking to the next farm bill, due later this year, as a way to rein in these groups’ activities. A bipartisan bill from Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) would require mandatory audits and prohibit conflicts of interest. Others defend the programs, saying checkoffs fulfill their mission to boost sales, fund research on their food’s benefits and combat what they see as misinformation. Jason Menke, director of consumer PR for the National Pork Board, which runs the pork checkoff, said in a statement that targeting young people in “culturally relevant and convenient ways” was simply part of the program’s “promotion mandate.”
| | | | A message from CropLife America:   | | | | | FIRST IN MA — DRY JANUARY: Dry January, or abstaining from alcohol during the first month of the year, has become a popular health trend. But not everyone participating leaves beer behind. According to a new Beer Institute/Morning Consult poll first reported here, 58 percent of Americans participating are drinking low- and nonalcoholic beer this month. Sixty-three percent of dry January participants polled said the quality of nonalcoholic beers has improved over the past few years. Most nonalcoholic options at this point are beer-adjacent, and the Beer Institute says sales in the nonalcoholic drink market are booming, growing 31 percent in the past year. Most major brands have a nonalcoholic or low-alcoholic line, and Athletic Brewing, which makes NA beers, is now the 14th largest U.S. craft brewer.
| | | | DON’T MISS POLITICO’S GOVERNORS SUMMIT: Join POLITICO on Feb. 22 to dive into how Governors are wielding immense power. While Washington remains gridlocked, governors are at the center of landmark decisions in AI and tech, economic development, infrastructure, housing, reproductive health and energy. How are they setting the stage for the future of American politics, policies and priorities? How are they confronting major challenges? Explore these questions and more at the 2024 Governors Summit. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | — A new study from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy urges farm bill negotiators to leave Inflation Reduction Act conservation funds in the farm bill. — JBS wants to join the New York Stock Exchange. (POLITICO Pro) — French farmers are planning a ‘siege’ of Paris. (POLITICO Europe) — Regenerative agriculture sparks venture capital interest. (Financial Times) THAT’S ALL FOR MA! Drop us a line: gdowns@politico.com, meredithlee@politico.com, marciabrown@politico.com, mmartinez@politico.com, abehsudi@politico.com and ecadei@politico.com.
| | A message from CropLife America: 360+ agricultural groups back the bipartisan Agricultural Labeling Uniformity Act to protect our food supply, farmers’ livelihoods, and the environment. Some states are trying to enact pesticide labeling requirements that directly contradict scientific guidance from the EPA, jeopardizing farmers’ access to pesticides—a critical input for growing crops.
If not addressed, this will create an unworkable patchwork of regulations that directly impacts the availability of these essential products for farmers—lowering yields, increasing farmers’ costs, threatening domestic food security, and ultimately, raising prices for consumers, while erasing decades of conservation gains. The Agricultural Labeling Uniformity Act ensures these products remain available while not affecting state and localities' ability to restrict pesticide use, or any individual’s rights in the legal process. Learn more. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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