For the Week Ending April 26, 2019
NPPC NAMES COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY LEGAL COUNSEL
NPPC this week welcomed Andrew Bailey and Rachel Gantz to its Washington, D.C. based team. Bailey has joined NPPC as its science and technology legal counsel, while Gantz has joined as its director of communications. Before joining NPPC, Bailey was an attorney with Siff & Associates, practicing regulatory and administrative law, with a focus in food and agriculture issues at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Prior to joining the Siff firm, he was the manager of scientific and regulatory affairs at the National Turkey Federation. Prior to joining NPPC, Gantz was the communications director for the Renewable Fuels Association, representing U.S. ethanol producers. Leading up to her time in public relations, she was a reporter for 17 years, covering biofuel, energy, and environmental issues. She worked for Oil Price Information Service (OPIS), Hart Energy Publications and Energy Argus. NPPC is excited to welcome both Bailey and Gantz to the team and looks forward to working with them on behalf of America’s 60,000 pork producers.
NPPC SUMBITS COMMENTS ON EU PROPOSAL FOR A REGULATION ON VETERINARY MEDICAL PRODUCTS
NPPC this week submitted comments in response to EU Regulation 2019/6 of the European Parliament and the Council on veterinary medicinal products and repealing Directive 2001/82/EC. In its comments, NPPC said it had “significant concerns on the precedent Regulation 2019/6 would have on the global trade of meat and meat products.” Specifically, while the U.S. pork sector doesn’t have robust trade with EU member countries, there is significant concern that countries could impose precautionary requirements on U.S. pork products based on this precedent. “It is essential that the U.S. Department of Agriculture advocates to the European Parliament and the Council to consider international standards set by the CODEX Alimentarius Commission,” NPPC wrote. In its comments, NPPC highlighted how the Food and Drug Administration has addressed public health concerns from the use of antimicrobials to promote growth and urged USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service to highlight the certainty of the robust FDA process in its argument on the unnecessary restrictions posted by Regulation 2019/6. Additionally, while the U.S. has a list of antimicrobials restricted from use in food animals, the country follows Maximum Residue Levels on its imported food products. NPPC urges the EU to adhere to that same principle. For NPPC’s comments, click here.
MARKET FACILITATION PROGRAM CERTIFICATION DEADLINE NEXT WEEK
USDA’s Market Facilitation Program (MFP), launched last year to help producers suffering from damages due to unjustified trade retaliation, has a May 1 deadline for producers to certify 2018 production. MFP provides direct payments to help hog, corn, cotton, sorghum, soybean, wheat and dairy producers who have been directly impacted by retaliatory tariffs. For hog producers, the MFP direct payments are $8.00 per head, capped at $125,000 per entity for combined dairy production and hogs. Producers who enrolled in the program must certify their 2018 production at their local Farm Service Agency office. To learn more about MFP, click here.
USDA UPDATES LIVESTOCK INSURANCE PROGRAMS
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency this week updated its Livestock Gross Margin (LGM) and Livestock Risk Protection (LRP) programs, as well as its Dairy Revenue Protection (DRP) program. Updates will take effect July 1. The updated LGM removes the livestock individual capacity limitation – for cattle swine and dairy – of $20 million per fiscal year for offer insurance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act. Changes to the LRP program included increasing the subsidy from the current 13 percent for all coverage levels to 20 percent to 35 percent, based on the coverage level selected to protect producers from declining markets.