All Posts from March 15, 2019

President’s 2020 Budget Slashes USDA, EPA

President Trump on March 11 submitted his 2020 budget, which proposes a 15 percent cut in funding for the USDA and a 31 percent cut in EPA funding. The $4.7 trillion budget targets “overly generous” crop support payments under USDA, while boosting defense spending by $34 billion and adding $8.6 billion for border wall funding.

The budget proposal, which Bloomberg said is nearly certain to be ignored by Congress and may trigger another government shutdown in the fall, calls for reducing regular non-defense discretionary spending by 9 percent, from $597 billion to $543 billion. Funding cuts are also proposed for the departments of State, Energy, and Transportation, while the departments of Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs would get increases larger than expected inflation.

“President Trump has somehow managed to produce a budget request even more untethered from reality than his past two,” said Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee. “The Trump budget has no chance of garnering the necessary bipartisan support to become law.”

The budget proposes to reduce the average premium subsidy for crop insurance to 48 percent from 62 percent, and limit subsidies to producers that posted an adjusted gross income of half-a-million dollars or less. The proposal also requests tightening commodity payment limits and limiting eligibility for commodity subsidies to one manager per farm.

“The President’s budget request is a road map for how to make things worse for farmers, ranchers, and those who live in rural communities,” said Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), Democratic Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. Peterson said in a statement that the cuts to crop insurance in the proposal total $26 billion.

Funding proposed for the border wall construction would come from $5 billion in the Homeland Security budget and $3.6 billion from military construction funds, Bloomberg reported. President Trump is requesting an additional $3.6 billion for military construction to replace money he intends to shift this year to border wall construction. The budget also proposes $200 billion for infrastructure improvements.

Bloomberg reported that even with the cuts and an assumption that the economy would grow at an average 3 percent for a decade, the budget does not balance in 10 years and shows a $202 billion deficit in 2029. The deficit is projected to exceed $1 trillion through 2022. The budget calls for no net tax increases, Bloomberg reported, although some user fees would increase.

Trump Signs New Pesticide Registration Act

President Trump on March 8 signed into law S. 483, the “Pesticide Registration Improvement Extension Act (PRIA) of 2018,” which reauthorizes and updates the fee collection provisions and pesticide review authority for EPA under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.

PRIA allows EPA to collect fees to support the review of new pesticide applications through fiscal 2023. The PRIA extension, known as PRIA 4, was passed as a standalone bill in the Senate on Feb. 14, and passed the House on Feb. 25. Due to a procedural matter, the bill had to go back to the Senate for a voice vote on Feb. 28.

“Since 2004, PRIA has been a key statute to ensuring timely review by EPA of pesticide registrations,” said Alexandra Dapolito Dunn, Assistant Administrator of the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “PRIA 4 is supported by farmers and ranchers, environmental justice and worker protection organizations, and a broad array of manufacturers. EPA looks forward to implementing the new law to further the agency’s mission of protecting human health and the environment.”

Bloomberg Law reported that EPA is planning by 2022 to cut an average of 60 days off the time it takes to review pesticide registrations. That line item was part of President Trump’s fiscal 2020 budget proposal, released on March 11. EPA also plans to increase slightly the fees companies pay to register new pesticides, Bloomberg reported.

Pesticide registration fees would account for $49 million by 2020, the budget said. The EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs generally receives about one-third of its funding through fees that industry pays to the agency under PRIA, Bloomberg reported. According to documentation available from EPA, total fees collected under PRIA for fiscal 2018 were $45.2 million.

The budget also includes a proposal to expand the use of pesticide fees to support a wider range of registration and review requirements, and establishes registration service fee set-asides of $2 million for worker protection activities, partnership grants, and pesticide safety education programs. In addition, EPA said it would prioritize pollinator health in the pesticide program by working with federal and state partners to reverse pollinator declines and increase habitat.

FIPR Exec Arrested for Child Porn

Dr. Brian Birky, 61, the Executive Director and the Research Director for Public and Environmental Health Research at the Florida Industrial and Phosphate Research Institute (FIPR), Bartow, was arrested on March 7 by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) on nine counts of child pornography. He posted a $9,000 bond on March 8, according to the Miami Herald. A spokesperson for Florida Polytechnic University told the local press that Birky is on leave. FIPR is a part of the university.

On March 7, PCSO detectives served a search warrant at Birky’s home in Lakeland after receiving tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that child pornography files were associated with an IP address at that address. The child pornography was determined to have been on a computer or electronic storage device at Birky’s residence between Nov. 14, 2018, and Jan. 1, 2019. Forensic investigations/examinations are ongoing on several electronic devices, storage devices, and storage media collected from the residence. Additional charges may be made as a result of the investigation.

Land O’Lakes Income Off on Higher Revenues; Crop Inputs Earnings Slip 28 Percent

Land O’ Lakes Inc., Arden Hills, Minn., reported net earnings for the year ending Dec. 31, 2018, of $255 million on net sales of $14.9 billion, down from 2017’s earnings of $365 million on sales of $13.7 billion. Net earnings included a non-recurring charge for the estimated withdrawal liability associated with its participation in a multi-employer pension plan. Excluding this charge, fiscal year earnings were $309 million. The company said it returned $194 million in cash to members.

Land O’Lakes said results were down in its Crop Inputs and Insights business, citing increased competition and a shift in product mix attributed to low commodity markets and the general decline of farm income. Pretax earnings were $165 million in 2018, down from Crop Inputs $230.1 million in 2017.

Dairy Food pretax earnings were also down, at $59 million from the prior year $71 million. While the snack, dessert, and food service businesses delivered strong performance, this was offset by lower retail product mix and compressed margins on milk powders.

Animal Nutrition pretax earnings were almost level at $91 million, down from $91.6 million. The company said insights and breadth of product offerings, along with improved premix margins, helped mitigate a challenging livestock environment in which producers were sometimes trading down.