By Danielle Penney-Stroop, NEAFA President
Here’s hoping everyone had a safe, healthy, Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you to all of you – whether you drive trucks, operate feed mills, manage logistics, purchase ingredients, provide consulting, sell equipment, farm supplies, fertilizer, or are in academia/extension. Each and every one of you play a vital role in the agricultural supply chain and feeding the 8 billion occupants of this world.
As 2022 winds down, the agricultural sector has been faced with continued supply chain shortages and bottlenecks, inflation and interest rates, severe weather, trade, and legislative policies and issues that have not exactly been in our favor.
The board continues to be busy since our last board meeting in September. To give you some updates on the legislative front, here is where we have been involved:
We were one of the nearly 200 agri-chain stakeholders providing letters calling on Congress to honor the federal pesticide registration authority by taking action to limit states and local municipalities from requiring modifications to pesticide product labels inconsistent to pesticide labels approved by the EPA under their authority of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). We also collaborated with VT Feed Dealers on this initiative.
NEAFA drafted comments for submission to the FDA concerning policy change for review of non-drug feed ingredients. These comments are intended to encourage the FDA to modify their policies and shift non-drug feed ingredients from being reviewed as a drug to being reviewed and authorized for use as a feed ingredient. This shift, as promoted by AFIA, NGFA, feed ingredient manufacturers, and animal scientists, is necessary to provide quicker access to industry desired products that address animal wellbeing, environmental, and other issues.
We joined AFIA in providing letters of support for agriculture trade nominees Alexis Taylor (USDA Under Secretary for Trade) and Doug McKalip (USTR Chief Agricultural Negotiator). They have both had their nomination voted out of committee, but multiple Senators have placed holds on their confirmations for unrelated matters and that is stopping a vote by the full Senate for confirmation. Farmers for Free Trade is coordinating a food and agriculture coalition letter advocating for the removal of these holds, and calling for a vote on their respective Senate confirmations before the end of the year. Farmers for Free Trade invites you to join industry groups and businesses in calling on Senators Schumer and McConnell to bring Doug McKalip and Alexis Taylor’s nominations to the floor for a vote.
We continue to join national, regional, and state food and ag associations urging swift action to avert a rail strike or lockout that would lead to shutdowns or slowdowns of rail-dependent facilities. These shutdowns would result in devastating consequences to our national and global food security. With two unions having voted to not ratify the rail labor agreement and a December 4th deadline for when a strike/lockout could occur, we went on record with what we’d like from Congress.
We collaborated and supported the Truck and Engine Manufacturing Association on their letter to the NY DEC. NY DEC is seriously considering proposing regulations that would adopt the California low NOx regulations for trucks. This proposed action could impose unobtainable engine emissions performance levels as current technology is unable to meet these proposed regulatory demands.
We continue to put pressure on Governor’s office regarding the overtime threshold ruling and keeping 60 hours at 60!
The elections are now over, and we have a stronger picture of House and Senate seats and their positions. Thankfully in New York State, we still have some strong democratic support for agriculture. All facets of agricultural have their work cut out for them. We (NEAFA and our ag partners – NEDPA, VTDPA, Corn and SB, VT Feed Dealers) collectively have a lot of work ahead of us to ensure we have a progressive and viable industry ahead. In Vermont, there are 51 new legislative seats after this midterm. That is a lot of new faces to educate. NEAFA is having conversations with VT Feed Dealers and VT Dairy Producers Association on ways to collaborate and have a unified voice at the table.
The NEAFA board recognizes that advocacy, lobbying, and legislative policy / priorities are our key value propositions for you, our members. Rick Zimmerman has announced his retirement plans and started the transition for his clients. While we are saddened by the news, we wish him the absolute best and hope for an adventurous next phase enjoying grandchildren, family, friends, and travel. We are eternally grateful and committed to continuing the critical and necessary work that Rick started for our organization 15+ years ago. The board has been meeting with various lobbying organizations this past month and are committed to finding the right representation in Albany and VT for our membership. Our next board meeting is Dec 5th and I look forward to reviewing our options and giving the board the opportunity on selecting the right fit for our membership to represent us. In December’s newsletter, we will announce our new partners and plan for our leadership for 2023 and beyond.
In closing, the NEAFA board is having continued talks with NEDPA on ways we can collaborate. One of our collaborative initiatives is that the very successful Dairy Round Summit from Nov 2021, hosted and planned by NEDPA, will once again take place. Our annual meeting is being held February 7-8th, in Albany NY, at the Marriott. This year’s meeting will be very unique in that Feb 7th is the Dairy and Transportation Summit, engaging our industry legislators and leaders for conversations highlighting many of the issues facing our supply chains, with potential solutions and areas of opportunity or focus. Thank you to NEDPA and our partners for this opportunity. We will have a reception the evening of the 7th to engage with our politicians and industry leaders, and on the 8th will be our annual meeting with engaging panels and speakers.