AG INSIGHT

BY JIM ERICKSON

Free trade coalition urges action to boost ag exports

More than 50 leading farm and food organizations representing all aspects of the food supply chain have sent a letter to Members of Congress urging action to increase agricultural exports.

The letter asks legislators to pass Trade Promotion Authority legislation regularly approved by Congress to give the administration objectives and guidance in pursuing tariff-cutting trade agreements. Noting that when it comes to trade agreements with tariff reduction, the United States is falling behind global economic competitors including China and the European Union.

“Between 2010 and 2020, China and the European Union enjoyed over twice as much advantage from trade agreement tariff reductions as the U.S. In this decade; the situation to date is far worse. The U.S. has not implemented a comprehensive trade agree- ment that opens new markets in more than a decade,” the letter asserts.

“The overwhelming bipartisan support for ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) stands as a model for more robust standards in many areas,” the letter observes.

In addition, for decades, the United States has exported dramatically more food and agricultural products than have been imported. For 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture now forecasts that the U.S. will run a food and agriculture trade deficit of $14.5 billion, the coalition warns.

Despite the gloomy forecast, the American agricultural sector posted its best export year ever in 2022 with international sales of U.S. farm and food products reaching $196 billion, according to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Final 2022 trade data recently released by the Commerce Department shows that U.S. agricultural exports increased $19.5 billion, from the previous record set in 2021.

Researchers seek ways to minimize pesticide drift

To reduce the effects of pesticide drift and protect pollinators, researchers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Stoneville, Mississippi, are investigating the best ways of using hooded sprayers and conventional (unhooded) sprayers.

Pesticide drift occurs when pesticide dust or droplets move through the air to another place other than the target area during or after pesticide application. This off-target drift can cause crop damage as well as health concerns to humans, animals, and beneficial insects such as bees and biocontrol agents exposed to the chemicals.

ARS researchers from the ARS Pollinator Health in Southern Crop Ecosystems Research Unit in Stoneville studied ground-based pre-emergent herbicide applications for corn, soybean and cotton on three regional, commercial-scale farms and four USDA research farms in Mississippi's Washington and Bolivar counties. After collecting samples of the drifted spray droplets, the researchers calculated the drift volume and drift distance from pre-emergent herbicide applications.

According to the research team, there was up to 63% reduction in pesticide drift of pre-emergent herbicide applications using a hooded sprayer in comparison to a nonhooded, conventional sprayer.

Hooded or shielded sprayers attached to tractors effectively minimized the exposure of herbicide spray to wind and led to fewer off-target depositions, the researchers found.

Rule proposed on “Product of the USA” labeling

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released a proposed rule with new regulatory requirements to better align the voluntary “Product of USA” label claim with consumer understanding of what the claim means.

The proposed rule allows the voluntary “Product of USA” or “Made in the USA” label claim to be used on meat, poultry and egg products only when they are derived from animals born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States.

The proposal delivers on one of the key actions in President Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting

Competition in the American Economy, and a commitment made in the Administration’s Action Plan for a Fairer, More Competitive and More Resilient Meat and Poultry Supply Chain.

The increased clarity and transparency provided by this proposed change would prevent consumer confusion and help ensure that consumers understand where their food comes from.

USDA’s proposed rulemaking is supported by petitions, thousands of comments from stakeholders and other data. In July 2021, USDA initiated a comprehensive review to understand what the “Product of USA” claim means to consumers and inform planned rulemaking to define the requirements for making such a claim. As part of its review, USDA commissioned a nationwide consumer survey. The survey revealed that the current “Product of USA” labeling claim is misleading to a majority of consumers.

USDA encouraged stakeholders, both domestic and international, to comment on the proposed rule. The measure was open for public comment for 60 days after its March publication in the Federal Register. Public comments were received at www. regulations.gov.

Lack of genetic diversity in honey bees a cause for concern

U.S. agriculture owes many thanks to the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) for its crucial role as pollinator within the nation's food supply. Some of the nation's food industries rely solely on the honey bee, and it's estimated that the economic value of its pollination role is worth well over $17 billion each year.

With this fact in mind, scientists with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) recently studied the U.S. honey bee's genetic diversity to ensure that this crucial pollinator insect has sufficient diversity to overcome the growing number of stressors such as parasites, diseases, malnutrition and climate change.

What they found is alarming: the U.S. honey bee population has low genetic diversity, and this could have a negative impact on future crop pollination and beekeeping sustainability in the country.

The research, recently highlighted in Frontiers, was accomplished by analyzing the genetic diversity of the U.S. honey bee populations through a molecular approach, using two mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) markers (DNA specifically from a mother).

Researchers studied approximately 1,063 bees from hobbyist and commercial beekeepers in 45 U.S. states, the District of Columbia (D.C.), and two U.S. territories (Guam and Puerto Rico). The data showed that the nation's managed honey bee populations rely intensively on a single honey bee evolutionary lineage.

In fact, 94% of U.S. honey bees belonged to the North Mediterranean C lineage. Data reflected that the remainder of genetic diversity belongs to the West Mediterranean M lineage (3%) and the African A lineage (3%).

"It's important that we have a realistic and accurate estimation of the honey bee's genetic diversity because this indicates the insect's ability to respond to disease, adaptation to environment and productivity," said ARS

Research Entomologist Mohamed Alburaki.

"Without this pollinator insect, we will witness a drastic decrease in the quantity and quality of our agricultural products such as almonds, apples, melons, cranberries, pumpkins, broccoli and many other fruits and vegetables that we're used to purchasing. We can't wait until a domino effect slowly takes place and affects our food supply."

The lack of genetic diversity creates a vulnerability for U.S. honey bees to survive in shifting climates that are now wetter or drier than usual. There is also concern that a honey bee's inability to fight off disease or parasitic infection could negatively impact beekeeping sustainability.

Accordingly, researchers are interested in the possibility of diversifying breeding stations with honey bee queens from various genetic backgrounds.

Gene discovered to bolster defenses against sorghum disease

A gene discovered by a team of Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Purdue University scientists could help fortify the defenses of sorghum to anthracnose, a disease of the cereal grain crop that can inflict yield losses of up to 50%.

The discovery, as reported in an issue of The Plant Journal, opens the door to breeding disease-resistant sorghum cultivars that are less reliant on fungicides to protect them, reducing growers' production costs and safeguarding grain yields and quality, among other benefits.

Sorghum is the fifth-most widely grown cereal grain crop worldwide, providing consumers not only with a source of food containing 12 essential nutrients but also forage for livestock and material for bio-based energy.

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