Washington Outlook By Robert L. Redding Jr.
U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee Holds Trade Hearing
USPF Testifies About Peanut Trade Issues
U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Commodities, Risk Management and Trade Chairman Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, held a hearing on “Agricultural Trade: Priorities and Issues Facing America’s Farmers”. Peanut grower Karla Thompson, JET Farms Georgia and Integrity Farms in Camilla, Georgia, represented the U.S. Peanut Federation (USPF) in providing testimony. Thompson discussed the primary peanut export markets and non-tariff trade barriers for U.S. peanuts entering the European Union (EU). Thompson summarized the state of peanut exports early in her statement. “Our primary peanut export markets are Canada, Mexico, Japan, the European Union (EU), and China. To fully understand our peanut trade markets, we need to look at the numbers since the 2002 Farm Bill. In the 2002 Farm Bill, peanuts went from a historical supply-management program to a marketing loan program similar to other Title I commodities. This new market oriented program, now the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program, reduced the price of peanuts for U.S. growers and should have made U.S. peanuts much more attractive to other countries importing peanuts. After the 2002 Farm Bill reforms, U.S. peanut world market share did show a slight increase; however, since 2015 our U.S. share of the world market has been declining. The implementation of non-tariff trade barriers in the EU and United Kingdom (UK) have only exacerbated this problem. The U.S. peanut industry’s share of the world peanut market is less today than the U.S. market share in the 1990’s.” Thompson provided more context in her comments to the subcommittee during the trade hearing. “Why is there a struggle for U.S. peanut exports to the EU and, more recently the UK? Mr. Chairman, as you and Senator Tuberville and 17 of your colleagues noted in a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative, peanuts are susceptible to a naturally-occurring aflatoxin. U.S. peanut growers are subject to stringent testing by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to assure our peanuts are safe to enter the food supply, both domestic and international. The EU, and now the UK, however, are requiring expanded testing criteria for U.S. peanut imports. What does this mean? The EU, and now UK, select 20 percent of U.S. shipments (containers) for aflatoxin testing, and they test 100 percent of the selected peanuts. In contrast, they only select 10 percent of shipments from China and 5 percent of shipments from Argentina. These new requirements for the U.S. are far more extensive than those required of our competitors in the EU and are costing the U.S. peanut industry hundreds of millions of dollars each year.” U.S. Senators Warnock and Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, have led the bipartisan Senate efforts to cure the peanut industry’s issues with the EU non-tariff trade barrier.
32 Southeastern Peanut Farmer | July/August 2022
U.S. House Appropriations Committee Completes Fiscal Year 2023 Ag Legislation Bishop Peanut Provisions Included in Bill The U.S. House Appropriations Committee has approved the Agriculture, Rural Development and Food and Drug Administration appropriations legislation for fiscal year 2023. Included in the bill were peanut provisions proposed by Agriculture Subcommittee Chairman Sanford Bishop, D-Georgia, and supported by the peanut industry. Chairman Bishop has been working with the peanut industry on two priority research initiatives, aflatoxin and nutrition. Total funding for Fiscal Year 2023 is $4 million for aflatoxin research at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Peanut Research Laboratory in Dawson, Georgia, and $1.5 million for the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to work on nutrition priorities.
Peanut Research The Committee provides an additional $1,000,000 above the fiscal year 2022 level to support research activities to mitigate aflatoxin contamination in peanuts. The Committee directs ARS to enhance ongoing collaborations with land grant institutions to further advance research efforts.
Peanut Nutrition Research The Committee recognizes the need for more research to identify how peanut consumption contributes to overall health, wellness, and reduces chronic disease risk in various groups and across the lifespan. The Committee encourages research topics to include chronic diseases, nutrition and wellness across the lifespan, health disparities, dietary patterns for optimal health, and nutrition for the future. The Committee provides an increase of $1,000,000 to continue this peanut nutrition research. The Appropriations legislation will now go to the House floor for consideration. The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has not passed their version of the Agriculture Appropriations bill to date.
