Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says work is progressing on vaccines for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, but scientific and trade challenges remain.
Trying to create a vaccine while HPAI strands continue to mutate is one barrier. Another is trade. Vilsack said that with the exception of France “and maybe one or two other countries,” most countries do not want to import vaccinated birds.
Vilsack did say the Biden Administration has been discussing HPAI vaccines with other countries, but added, “those conversation have just started."
Remember: Senators Mike Rounds and John Thune, both South Dakota Republicans, sent Vilsack a letter earlier this year asking that he and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai begin HPAI discussions with trade partners prior to the rollout of any vaccines being developed by USDA’s Agricultural Research Service.
The latest HPAI numbers: HPAI has been confirmed in nine flocks in the last 30 days, affecting a total of 6.12 million birds, according to data from the Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. A variation of the disease — dubbed by the American Association of Bovine Practitioners as the Bovine Influenza A virus — has also been found in dairy cattle in Texas, Idaho, South Dakota, New Mexico, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Kansas.
Take note: Vilsack said he expects the administration to release its updated GREET model by the end of the month. The new model will be used to assess the carbon footprint of sustainable aviation fuel feedstocks and determine their eligibility for new tax credits. The updated model will incorporate the use of some climate-smart farming practices.
Climate impact disclosure guidelines hit Europe
Companies generating over 150 million Euros in turnover annually on the European Union market are navigating a new set of guidelines in Europe requiring them to report their climate impacts, International Dairy Foods Association ESG director Mike Aquino told reporters Monday.
Aquino, at the North American Agriculture Journalists’ annual meeting Monday, said the European Union’s new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) rules “seems to be the most complicated” set of environmental and social reporting requirements IDFA members say they are currently navigating. They require companies to provide information on "environmental, social and employee matters, respect for human rights, anti-corruption and bribery matters.”
"It will be an evolution and it’ll take some practice for companies to get their reporting routine down,” Aquino said.
The rules took effect in the 2024 financial year, according to the European Union website.
New practices can be added to ‘climate-smart’ list, Bonnie says
The Agriculture Department is planning to continue to add practices to its “climate-smart” list, but only if they are proven to come with a “climate mitigation benefit,” Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation Robert Bonnie told reporters Monday.
“We think that will continue to expand,” he said of the list. He stressed, however, that the agency utilizes a “pretty rigorous process” to determine what practices can be deemed “climate-smart."
The agency added some livestock- and irrigation-related practices to the list in September. The list determines which practices are eligible for Inflation Reduction Act funding through programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program.
FDA about to finalize long-delayed ag water regs
FDA’s new deputy commissioner for human foods, Jim Jones, says the agency’s new regulations for agricultural water will be finalized before the end of the month.
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FDA proposed in late 2021 that produce growers use a “systems approach” to testing the water used to grow their crops. The agency dropped a microbial testing requirement that was a key part of a 2015 proposal to implement the ag water testing requirements in the Food Safety Modernization Act.
Speaking to the ag journalists, Jones said the final rule follows the “prevention ethic that's in FSMA and requires covered farms now to identify hazards [and] as they identify a hazard to eliminate that hazard.”
He said FDA will work with farmers and state ag departments to “ensure that producers are educated” on the regulations “and have the tools they need to do a good job of identifying hazards.
USDA says OK to insecticide use to control grasshoppers, crickets in Arizona
USDA has given the go-ahead to the use of insecticides to control Mormon crickets and grasshoppers on a small portion within about 330,000 acres of rangeland in Graham and Gila counties, Arizona.
“The number of actual acres treated will fluctuate from season to season depending on the grasshopper infestation within the proposed action area,” the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said in its environmental assessment. Last year, only 2,577 acres were treated, and in 2022, the number was about 6,000 acres.
Use of carbaryl bait or diflubenzuron “does not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment,” APHIS concluded in its Finding of No Significant Impact.
Honig to head Ag Statistics Board
Lance Honig will be chair of USDA’s Agricultural Statistics Board, as well as Methodology Division Director, USDA announced Monday.
Honig has served in an acting capacity for both roles since November 2023, USDA said, adding that as chair, Honig “will lead the preparation and dissemination of market-sensitive agricultural forecasts and estimates.”
Honig has been Crops Branch Chief since 2008. He replaces the previous chair, Joe Parsons, who has been in the job since 2016. Parsons is NASS Associate Administrator and is currently Acting Administrator. NASS Administrator Hubert Hamer retired at the end of March after serving as head of the agency since 2016.
He said it: "When you're faced with limited budget, you have to prioritize." -- Tom Vilsack on NASS's decision to eliminate some annual reports.
