SNA rallies against block grants Presented by Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health

With help from Ian Kullgren, Jason Huffman, Catherine Boudreau and Annie Snider

SNA RALLIES AGAINST BLOCK GRANTS: The School Nutrition Association is taking a stand today against a House GOP child nutrition bill that would open the door to block-granting federal school meals programs. The group, representing some 55,000 school nutrition professionals across the country, will hold on Capitol Hill this morning its first public event aimed at drumming up opposition to the bill — marking a new round in a long-running fight. For years, SNA worked with House Republicans to push back on some of the Obama administration’s new nutrition standards, but that alliance was severed when the House Education and the Workforce Committee last month introduced legislation that would create a three-state block-grant pilot for school meals programs — a move SNA and hunger and health groups see as an existential threat.

Today SNA is joining with key Democrats on the committee, including ranking member Rep. Bobby Scott (Va.), Suzanne Bonamici (Ore.) and Alma Adams (N.C.), as well as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Food Research & Action Center. The message out of this morning's press conference (234 Cannon) will emphasize that many schools are not able to cover any more costs. Pros can brush up on the block-grant conflict here, and last week’s fiery Dem rally on the issue is here.

IT’S WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15. Welcome to Morning Ag, where your host is in full-blown summer grilling mode. You know the deal: thoughts, news, favorite marinades? Send them to [email protected] or @hbottemiller. Follow the team at @Morning_Ag.

N.D. NO ON EASING CORPORATE RESTRICTIONS: North Dakota voters Tuesday night strongly rejected a bid by the state legislature to relax the state’s Depression-era ban on corporate ownership or operation of farms. With more than 98 percent of precincts reporting, 75 percent voted against loosening the ban, with 24 percent supporting the measure. View the results here.

It’s not over: The North Dakota Farm Bureau is vowing to forge ahead with the federal court suit it filed earlier this month arguing the corporate farming ban is discriminatory and unconstitutional. The New York Times profiled the debate last weekend. More here.

QR CODE DIVIDE IN GMO LABELING IMPASSE: As Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts and ranking member Debbie Stabenow continue negotiating this week to broker a legislative deal on GMO labeling before Vermont’s law goes into effect on July 1, two sets of groups remain dug in on a fundamental difference: on-package language vs. QR codes.

First, there’s the Coalition for Safe Affordable Food, which represents food and beverage manufacturers, agrochemical companies and agricultural producers. This group initially supported only voluntary labeling, but is now open to a legislative deal that would make GMO disclosure mandatory if other disclosure methods, like QR codes, 1-800 numbers and websites, could be used.

Second, there are the Center for Food Safety, the Organic Consumers Association, Food Democracy Now and other advocacy groups, which are standing firm that on-package language, as will be required in Vermont, is the only solution. On Tuesday these groups said exclusive use of QR codes (or another “technological fix”) would not be sufficient. QR codes need to be scanned, unlike on-package labels, they say, and thus could deny equal access to those in rural areas because the approaches require a smartphone and reliable internet access.

Roberts told MA Tuesday that negotiations are ongoing, so stay tuned.

ERNST’S ATTACK ON MEATLESS MONDAY FALLS SHORT: Sen. Joni Ernst’s bid to block military cafeterias from going meatless on any day of the week came up short Tuesday when the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act, 85 to 13, without considering her amendment. Ernst’s amendment, which threatened to withhold funds from the Department of Defense, was aimed at the Humane Society of the United States' "Meatless Monday" campaign, an effort to get schools, hospitals and other facilities to reduce meat offerings. As Pro Agriculture reported recently, the group has helped the U.S. Coast Guard Academy cut meat consumption by as much as 10 percent in three years.

REPUBLICANS ASK RYAN TO TAKE UP CATFISH RESOLUTION: More than 100 House Republicans, led by Missouri Rep. Vicky Hartzler, sent a letter to Speaker Paul Ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Tuesday, urging consideration of a Senate-approved resolution to repeal the USDA’s catfish inspection program. “It is imperative that regular order and common sense prevail, and we respectfully request that this joint resolution be brought to the floor for immediate consideration,” the letter says.

The catfish inspection program has become a symbol of waste for deficit hawks and, oddly, a rare alignment for them with President Barack Obama, who has proposed transferring inspection authority back to the Food and Drug Administration. The letter notes the Government Accountability Office has targeted the program for being duplicative 10 times.

WOTUS RIDER IN SENATE APPROPS BILL: The Interior-EPA appropriations bill passed by Senate subcommittee Tuesday morning was loaded with riders targeting EPA's controversial water rule, as well as ones aimed at Superfund and Endangered Species rules. But so far it contains no language targeting EPA's Clean Power Plan, Alex Guillén reports for Pro Energy. The rider game is far from over, though, with plenty expected to crop up at Thursday's full committee markup.

Let's talk numbers: The $32 billion bill would level a modest overall cut to EPA's budget, but focus most of the pain on the agency's rulemaking activities. EPA's water infrastructure programs would be among the winners, with the two State Revolving Loan funds seeing a boost of $113 million, and the Water Infrastructure Finance Act program getting $30 million. The Interior Department would get $12.16 billion, with funding for the Office of Surface Mining and the Bureau of Land Management remaining roughly level.

WOTUS FOR NEXT POTUS: The legal fate of the Obama administration's Waters of the U.S. rule will rest with the next administration, after the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday set a briefing schedule that pushes oral arguments past February 2017, Annie Snider reports for Pro Energy. But the Obama administration's Justice Department still has a chance to finish setting the stage. Its lawyers will quarterback the big fight over what makes it into the administrative record, and won't have to file their main brief until the end of November, when it should be clear who will take over the White House.

A message from Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health: When animals are healthy, people are, too. Our 3,100 U.S. employees enhance the well-being of animals and people by guarding against diseases that threaten their health and our food supply. We’re proud to build on our long history of supporting U.S. producers by supplying a FMD vaccine bank for the USDA. Learn more.

WHAT’S IN A NAME? FDA SUED FOR ‘SOY MILK’ RECORDS: The Good Food Institute wants the FDA to allow use of the term “soy milk,” and says the agency’s inconsistency on the matter has led to “consumer confusion and an uneven competitive landscape.” The nonprofit, which promotes plant-based products and other alternatives to meat, dairy and eggs, has filed a lawsuit in a D.C. federal court demanding FDA turn over all related records, arguing the agency did not properly respond to several Freedom of Information Act requests GFI submitted in April.

As GFI’s complaint recounts, the dispute over soy milk goes back to 1997, when the Soyfoods Association of America asked FDA to formally recognize it as the common name for “liquid food derived from the cooking and processing of whole soybeans with water." FDA never responded, allowing use of the term; but it then issued warnings against two California companies, in 2008 and 2012, for using the term “soy milk” because their products did not contain dairy milk. Seeking to limit use of the terms “milk” and “cheese,” the National Milk Producers Federation and several dairy state senators have asked FDA repeatedly to enforce the standards of its warning letters.

What FDA does next could lead to a slew of final standard-of-identity definitions for a variety of dairy-alternative, plant-based liquid and solid products that have emerged since soy milk first became popular, GFI Executive Director Bruce Friedrich tells MA. The list includes almond, hazelnut, rice and oat milk as well as cashew and coconut cheese. Pro subscribers can read GFI’s complaint here.

NAMI STUDY SHOWS REPS. WITH BIGGEST MEAT INDUSTRY EXPOSURE: A study published Tuesday by the North American Meat Institute showed how the U.S. meat industry has grown over seven years, to $1.02 trillion in U.S. economic output (5.6 percent of overall GDP), from $832.4 billion (5.8 percent of GDP). The data was provided by John Dunham and Associates, the New York-based firm hired to perform the study. Most valuable to those concerned with food policy issues were the report’s state-by-state analysis and its breakdown of the 25 congressional districts that have benefited the most from meat industry output. The top three: Nebraska's 3rd District, held by Republican Rep. Adrian Smith, with $16 billion; Arkansas' 3rd District, represented by Republican Rep. Steve Womack, with $15 billion; and North Carolina's 7th District, the seat of Republican Rep. David Rouzer, with $13 million.

BEVERAGE BIG FUNDS PACE LAW FOOD-HUB PILOT: Rob Sands, president and CEO of the international wine, beer and spirits company Constellation Brands, has donated $400,000 to his alma mater, Pace University School of Law, to sponsor a two-year pilot Food and Beverage Law Clinic. The clinic will offer legal services to farmers, community and grassroots groups, and food and beverage entrepreneurs. It is part of a collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council to assist efforts to build a more sustainable regional food system, according to the school.

“Many businesses in the growing ‘farm to table’ economy start out in someone’s kitchen, backyard or even roof garden,” said David Yassky, Dean of Pace’s Elisabeth Haub School of Law in White Plains, N.Y. “When these businesses grow, new legal issues emerge and often these entrepreneurs can’t afford the legal help they need. Our clinic will fill that gap.” More about the initiative here.

MA’s INSTANT OATS:

— Increasing SNAP benefits would improve the diets of low-income Americans, finds a new study released by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

— Roughly 20 percent of the revenue from the Philly soda tax would go to city programs other than pre-K and parks, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

— Commerce Department data released Tuesday showed GDP “slowed or shrank” in 28 states last year, including in the farm states of Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska, where the drop-off in farm incomes is having a major effect, the Wall Street Journal reports.

— Soybean meal supply concerns have commodity prices skyrocketing in China, where they “jumped 36 percent this year, while U.S. futures have returned more than any other raw material on the Bloomberg Commodity Index,” Bloomberg reports.

— A USDA “ Amber Waves” report on food deserts found proximity to supermarkets may be less of a determinant of food choice than "household and neighborhood resources, education and taste preferences.” As Reason phrased it: “You can lead human beings to Whole Foods, but you can't make them buy organic kale there.”

— Tom Hayes has been tapped to be president of Tyson Foods, Inc., a move the Wall Street Journal reported reflects “the company’s increased emphasis on branded, packaged foods.”

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