Political Risk to Agribusiness
The Biden Administration and others have already shown their animosity toward Big Ag. Heading into 2024 the hate may grow larger. The President’s reelection campaign, and that of the Democratic Party, is threatened by voter dissatisfaction with the economy. Specifically, they are upset ab...
Hobbling AI; Chinese Spin; F2F Setback
Hobbling AI The EU has neared agreement on doing what it does best, regulating. This time its target is artificial intelligence. France and Germany were reluctant participants because they have their own startup AI companies and didn’t want to hobble them. Regulatory hobbling from Brussel...
NGT Optimism; New Old Threat to Trade
NGT Optimism EU Parliament rapporteur for the Commission’s proposed new policy on new genomic techniques (NGT’s) is Jessica Polfjärd and she is expressing optimism that she can get the portfolio approved in January. She told Euractiv that otherwise it may “take potentiall...
EU-Mercosur Deal Smooshed
The multi-year effort to negotiate a trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur appears to have run into too many hurdles on both sides of the Atlantic. France is a key blocker in Europe, with claims that the environmental provisions are not tough enough on South America. Argentina said it was...
Decoupling or Redirected; Take, Don’t Give
Decoupling or Redirected There is much academic debate over whether U.S.- China trade has been decoupled, or merely redirected with Chinese goods diverted through other countries such as Mexico and Thailand. Part of the problem is using correlation to assume causation. Researchers at Penn State...
A Look at Sustainable Aviation Fuel
As the 28th United Nations climate summit (COP28) convenes in Dubai, sustainability and climate issues are the theme of the week, making it timely to look at the future of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Virgin Atlantic Airlines, a long-time pioneer in renewable fuels, just made a demonstratio...
Policy Quick Hits
Pork Plant Line Speeds USDA extended the New Swine Inspection System (NSIS) faster line speed trial period for 90 days; the program was scheduled to expire on 30 November. There are six packing plants operating under the NSIS, located withing about 100 miles of approximately 40 percent of U.S...
Tautological Rabbit Hole; Buy Small and Stay Home
Tautological Rabbit Hole The COP28 meeting in Dubai came to an agreement on a loss and damage fund whereby rich countries help poor countries weather the adverse impacts of climate change. Funding will be voluntary and it will be run by the World Bank, presumably with the controls necessary to...
Atlantic Risks; Mixed Reviews of Asks; Rural Anarchists
Atlantic Risks EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovkis is a serious and competent politician. He is now signaling that reaching a conceptual deal with the U.S. on the trade in steel and aluminum is stalled and without prospect. Meanwhile, the Biden Administration appears unable to make concessi...
Small Refinery Exemptions Under the RFS Back in the Spotlight
A recurring issue since 2016 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has been EPA’s administration of the small refinery exemption (SRE) program. A court decision in the 5th District Circuit Court brought that topic back to the forefront, and will add more complexity, volatility, and unce...
Green and Brown Collide
Last week’s win in the Netherlands by Gert Wilders was a stunning refutation of the Green Deal. The policy’s former protagonist in the EU Commission, Frans Timmermans, was relegated to a minority role with just seventeen seats. He had left his Commission position with the idea of ru...
Rebalancing Global Meat; Unintended Water Consequences
Rebalancing Global Meat The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization will present a plan at next week’s COP28 meeting in Dubai that calls for rich countries to eat less meat, while instructing developing countries to boost their livestock production to improve animal protein in their...
23 Legislative Days, and Many Issues, Left Under Government Funding Extension
Congress returns tomorrow after its Thanksgiving holiday break to face a long list of issues and the time pressurs of finalizing government funding bills. Following is what is on the “To Do” list. Four appropriations bills, including the Agriculture and FDA appropriations, must be p...
Major Dairy Defeat; Boomers’ Promise to the Future
Major Dairy Defeat In a major policy defeat for U.S. dairy, a USMCA dispute settlement panel ruled that Canada’s dairy quotas do not limit U.S. access. U.S. dairy exports to Canada have risen but at less than the level expected when Canada promised to make changes to its regime. Ottawa pu...
De-Risking and Food
The Biden Administration went through a rapid succession of descriptors for its trade policy toward China before settling on de-risking. It initially called for decoupling but switched to re-shoring. This upset allies and so next it tried friend-shoring. It has stuck with de-risking for a while...
African Farming; European Farming
African Farming This is said to be the African Century. Over half the world’s population growth to 2050 will come from that region of the world. Yet its agriculture is woefully unable to feed the current population, let alone where it is headed. The average yield for maize this year in Af...
Cultivated versus Uncouth; All or Nothing; Genetic Enforcement
Cultivated versus Uncouth The Italian Chamber of Deputies passed a law banning the sale of cultivated meat. The law will prevent the production and sale of food or feed "from cell cultures or tissues derived from vertebrate animals." Apparently, you can only eat animals in Italy. But they&rsquo...
DE&I Comes to Trade; Green Deal Equals Deforestation
DE&I Comes to Trade It is busy this week on the U.S. West Coast. Asian leaders are negotiating with their American hosts on APEC, IPEF, and U.S. – China bilateral relations. The latter is supposed to become less prickly as Joe Biden and Xi Jinping meet for the first time in a year, bu...
Anatomy of the Government Funding Bill
This is a topic WPI has reported on many times in the past couple of weeks, either directly or indirectly: the state of a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded after Friday. At the time of this report, the House was poised to pass a CR to keep the government open...
Over-greening Bees; China versus Labor; Farm Policy
Over-greening Bees In 2018 we were all warned that a third or more of our food supply was being threatened by the struggles facing bees. Europe focused on insect pollinator health, including banning (with exceptions of course) neonicotinoid pesticides as a threat to pollinators. American resear...
What Could the Biden Xi Meeting Yield?
U.S. President Biden and Chinese President Xi will meet in San Francisco on Wednesday to discuss key geopolitical issues and “managed trade.” The geopolitical discussion will focus on the latest developments with North Korea, and, additionally, issues that have potential impacts on...
Farm Bill Extension Likely
The “four corners” of the Congressional Agriculture Committees – the respective chairmen and ranking minority members of the House and Senate ag panels – are now all on the same page favoring a one-year extension of the farm bill. House Committee Chairman Glenn Tho...
China Teed Up; Reality in the House; Farmers Win in EU
China Teed Up President Biden meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week outside the APEC meeting. Bloomberg suggests there could be a quid pro quo with China giving Washington assistance on defense issues, stopping the flow of fentanyl, and increasing transparency. In exchange, the U.S. wo...
Biotech for Environment; Transatlantic Negotiating Mandate; Indonesian Heat
Biotech for Environment Greens and others in the European Parliament reportedly reacted badly to rapporteur Jessica Polfjärd's initiative that would broaden the EU Commission’s proposal for lessening regulation of new genomic techniques. Yet it is genetic modification technologies th...
Political Risk to Agribusiness
The Biden Administration and others have already shown their animosity toward Big Ag. Heading into 2024 the hate may grow larger. The President’s reelection campaign, and that of the Democratic Party, is threatened by voter dissatisfaction with the economy. Specifically, they are upset ab...
Hobbling AI; Chinese Spin; F2F Setback
Hobbling AI The EU has neared agreement on doing what it does best, regulating. This time its target is artificial intelligence. France and Germany were reluctant participants because they have their own startup AI companies and didn’t want to hobble them. Regulatory hobbling from Brussel...
NGT Optimism; New Old Threat to Trade
NGT Optimism EU Parliament rapporteur for the Commission’s proposed new policy on new genomic techniques (NGT’s) is Jessica Polfjärd and she is expressing optimism that she can get the portfolio approved in January. She told Euractiv that otherwise it may “take potentiall...
EU-Mercosur Deal Smooshed
The multi-year effort to negotiate a trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur appears to have run into too many hurdles on both sides of the Atlantic. France is a key blocker in Europe, with claims that the environmental provisions are not tough enough on South America. Argentina said it was...
Decoupling or Redirected; Take, Don’t Give
Decoupling or Redirected There is much academic debate over whether U.S.- China trade has been decoupled, or merely redirected with Chinese goods diverted through other countries such as Mexico and Thailand. Part of the problem is using correlation to assume causation. Researchers at Penn State...
A Look at Sustainable Aviation Fuel
As the 28th United Nations climate summit (COP28) convenes in Dubai, sustainability and climate issues are the theme of the week, making it timely to look at the future of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Virgin Atlantic Airlines, a long-time pioneer in renewable fuels, just made a demonstratio...
Policy Quick Hits
Pork Plant Line Speeds USDA extended the New Swine Inspection System (NSIS) faster line speed trial period for 90 days; the program was scheduled to expire on 30 November. There are six packing plants operating under the NSIS, located withing about 100 miles of approximately 40 percent of U.S...
Tautological Rabbit Hole; Buy Small and Stay Home
Tautological Rabbit Hole The COP28 meeting in Dubai came to an agreement on a loss and damage fund whereby rich countries help poor countries weather the adverse impacts of climate change. Funding will be voluntary and it will be run by the World Bank, presumably with the controls necessary to...
Atlantic Risks; Mixed Reviews of Asks; Rural Anarchists
Atlantic Risks EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovkis is a serious and competent politician. He is now signaling that reaching a conceptual deal with the U.S. on the trade in steel and aluminum is stalled and without prospect. Meanwhile, the Biden Administration appears unable to make concessi...
Small Refinery Exemptions Under the RFS Back in the Spotlight
A recurring issue since 2016 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has been EPA’s administration of the small refinery exemption (SRE) program. A court decision in the 5th District Circuit Court brought that topic back to the forefront, and will add more complexity, volatility, and unce...
Green and Brown Collide
Last week’s win in the Netherlands by Gert Wilders was a stunning refutation of the Green Deal. The policy’s former protagonist in the EU Commission, Frans Timmermans, was relegated to a minority role with just seventeen seats. He had left his Commission position with the idea of ru...
Rebalancing Global Meat; Unintended Water Consequences
Rebalancing Global Meat The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization will present a plan at next week’s COP28 meeting in Dubai that calls for rich countries to eat less meat, while instructing developing countries to boost their livestock production to improve animal protein in their...
23 Legislative Days, and Many Issues, Left Under Government Funding Extension
Congress returns tomorrow after its Thanksgiving holiday break to face a long list of issues and the time pressurs of finalizing government funding bills. Following is what is on the “To Do” list. Four appropriations bills, including the Agriculture and FDA appropriations, must be p...
Major Dairy Defeat; Boomers’ Promise to the Future
Major Dairy Defeat In a major policy defeat for U.S. dairy, a USMCA dispute settlement panel ruled that Canada’s dairy quotas do not limit U.S. access. U.S. dairy exports to Canada have risen but at less than the level expected when Canada promised to make changes to its regime. Ottawa pu...
De-Risking and Food
The Biden Administration went through a rapid succession of descriptors for its trade policy toward China before settling on de-risking. It initially called for decoupling but switched to re-shoring. This upset allies and so next it tried friend-shoring. It has stuck with de-risking for a while...
African Farming; European Farming
African Farming This is said to be the African Century. Over half the world’s population growth to 2050 will come from that region of the world. Yet its agriculture is woefully unable to feed the current population, let alone where it is headed. The average yield for maize this year in Af...
Cultivated versus Uncouth; All or Nothing; Genetic Enforcement
Cultivated versus Uncouth The Italian Chamber of Deputies passed a law banning the sale of cultivated meat. The law will prevent the production and sale of food or feed "from cell cultures or tissues derived from vertebrate animals." Apparently, you can only eat animals in Italy. But they&rsquo...
DE&I Comes to Trade; Green Deal Equals Deforestation
DE&I Comes to Trade It is busy this week on the U.S. West Coast. Asian leaders are negotiating with their American hosts on APEC, IPEF, and U.S. – China bilateral relations. The latter is supposed to become less prickly as Joe Biden and Xi Jinping meet for the first time in a year, bu...
Anatomy of the Government Funding Bill
This is a topic WPI has reported on many times in the past couple of weeks, either directly or indirectly: the state of a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded after Friday. At the time of this report, the House was poised to pass a CR to keep the government open...
Over-greening Bees; China versus Labor; Farm Policy
Over-greening Bees In 2018 we were all warned that a third or more of our food supply was being threatened by the struggles facing bees. Europe focused on insect pollinator health, including banning (with exceptions of course) neonicotinoid pesticides as a threat to pollinators. American resear...
What Could the Biden Xi Meeting Yield?
U.S. President Biden and Chinese President Xi will meet in San Francisco on Wednesday to discuss key geopolitical issues and “managed trade.” The geopolitical discussion will focus on the latest developments with North Korea, and, additionally, issues that have potential impacts on...
Farm Bill Extension Likely
The “four corners” of the Congressional Agriculture Committees – the respective chairmen and ranking minority members of the House and Senate ag panels – are now all on the same page favoring a one-year extension of the farm bill. House Committee Chairman Glenn Tho...
China Teed Up; Reality in the House; Farmers Win in EU
China Teed Up President Biden meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week outside the APEC meeting. Bloomberg suggests there could be a quid pro quo with China giving Washington assistance on defense issues, stopping the flow of fentanyl, and increasing transparency. In exchange, the U.S. wo...
Biotech for Environment; Transatlantic Negotiating Mandate; Indonesian Heat
Biotech for Environment Greens and others in the European Parliament reportedly reacted badly to rapporteur Jessica Polfjärd's initiative that would broaden the EU Commission’s proposal for lessening regulation of new genomic techniques. Yet it is genetic modification technologies th...