U.S. Agricultural Policy

1. U.S. Agricultural Policy • Main foci • Producing Commodities • Manufacturing Food • Environmental Protection • Rural Development • Agribusiness

2. Interconnected Policies • Energy policy • Foreign policy Transportation policy • Agricultural policy Balance of Trade

3. Environmental Protection

4. Environmental Protection Intended and Unintended Consequences of Producing Food

5. Environmental Protection Intended and Unintended Consequences of Producing Food (at least the way we do it)

6. Environmental Protection Intended and Unintended Consequences of Producing Food (at least the way we do it) “Muddling Through”

7. Why does policy change?

8. Why does policy change? • We change our goals – governments change roles and responsibilities

9. Why does policy change? • We change our goals – governments change roles and responsibilities • We change our information base • the biophysical world • human nature and society

10. Why does policy change? • We change our goals – governments change roles and responsibilities • We change our information base • the biophysical world • human nature and society • We change our technologies

11. Why does policy change? • We change our goals – governments change roles and responsibilities • We change our information base • the biophysical world • human nature and society • We change our technologies • We change our evaluation strategies

12. Why does policy change? • We change our goals – governments change roles and responsibilities • We change our information base • the biophysical world • human nature and society • We change our technologies • We change our evaluation strategies • The changes may/may not be synchronous and may/mat not be causally related

14. U.S. Agricultural Policy (Wikipedia) • United States Department of Agriculture • Food and Nutrition • Marketing and Trade • Education and Research • Assisting Rural Communities • Environmental Protection (Conservation)

15. USDA • Animal Health • Plant Health • Biotechnology • Energy • Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response • Natural Resources and Environment • Research and Science • Rural and Community Development

16. USDA Divisions • Economic Research Service • Food Safety and Inspection Service • Forest Service • Natural Resources Conservation Service • Rural Development

17. Agricultural Chemicals • Agricultural Chemicals and the Environment (Eds Hester R.E.; Harrison, R.M.) • Agricultural Chemicals (USGS) • Agricultural Chemical Usage (USDA Economics, Statistics, and Market Information) • USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program (USGS) • Research on Pesticides in the Environment (USGS) • 2006 North Carolina Agricultural Chemicals Manual • Ag Chemicals and Fertilizers (Minnesota Department of Agriculture)

18. Food Chemicals • About 6,000 chemicals, both synthetic and natural, are deliberately or inadvertently added to foods • Hundreds of thousands of chemicals – perhaps a million – are naturally present in foods • Coffee aroma alone consists of about 1,000 different chemicals • Relatively few chemicals that occur naturally in foods have been tested for their cancer-causing potential • Several natural carcinogens that are widely consumed in ordinary foods • Caffeic acid, found in coffee and in apples, lettuce, peaches, pears, potatoes, tomatoes and citrus fruits, causes cancer in laboratory animals, but its role, if any, in human cancer is unknown

19. Food Chemicals • Chemicals in Food? A Panel of Experts Finds Little Danger (NY Times Feb 16, 1996) • Food Chemicals “may harm humans” (BBC) • Chemicals and Food (Clemson University) • Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety)

20. Legislation (7 USC …) • CHAPTER 57 PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION (1970) • CHAPTER 104 PLANT PROTECTION (2000) • CHAPTER 73 FARMLAND PROTECTION POLICY (1981) • CHAPTER 96 GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE (1990) • CHAPTER 109 ANIMAL HEALTH PROTECTION (2002) • CHAPTER 110 ENHANCING CONTROLS ON DANGEROUS BIOLOGICAL AGENTS AND TOXINS (2002) • CHAPTER 111 BROWN TREE SNAKE CONTROL AND ERADICATION (2004)

21. Legislation (42 USC …) • CHAPTER 19B WATER RESOURCES PLANNING (1965) • CHAPTER 50 NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE (1968) • CHAPTER 55 NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY (1970) • CHAPTER 96 BIOMASS ENERGY AND ALCOHOL FUELS (1980) • CHAPTER 97 ACID PRECIPITATION PROGRAM AND CARBON DIOXIDE STUDY (1980) • CHAPTER 103 COMPREHENSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE, COMPENSATION, AND LIABILITY (1980)

22. Legislation (16 USC …) • CHAPTER 3B SOIL CONSERVATION (1935) • CHAPTER 3C WATER CONSERVATION (1939) • CHAPTER 14 REGULATION OF WHALING (1950) • CHAPTER 15A GREAT LAKES FISHERIES (1956) • CHAPTER 18 WATERSHED PROTECTION AND FLOOD PREVENTION (1954) • CHAPTER 29 WATER BANK PROGRAM FOR WETLANDS PRESERVATION (1970) • CHAPTER 30 WILD HORSES AND BURROS: PROTECTION, MANAGEMENT, AND CONTROL (1971) • CHAPTER 31 MARINE MAMMAL PROTECTION (1972) • CHAPTER 35 ENDANGERED SPECIES (1973) • CHAPTER 58 ERODIBLE LAND AND WETLAND CONSERVATION AND RESERVE PROGRAM (1985) • CHAPTER 64 NORTH AMERICAN WETLANDS CONSERVATION (1989)

23. Current Administrative Law - Regulations • 7 CFR Agriculture • 7 CFR 3100.43 Policy. (a) The nonrenewable cultural environment of our country constitutes a valuable and treasured portion of the national heritage of the American people. The Department of Agriculture is committed to the management—identification, protection, preservation, interpretation, evaluation and nomination— of our prehistoric and historic cultural resources for the benefit of all people of this and future generations • 9 CFR Animals and Animal Products • 42 CFR Public Health • 50 CFR Wildlife and Fisheries

24. 40 CFR Protection of the Environment • Environmental Protection Agency • Air Programs • Water Programs • Pesticide Programs • Effluent Guidelines and Standards • Toxic Substances

25. US Environmental Protection Agency • Agriculture • Air Quality • Animal Feeding Operations • Antimicrobial Pesticides • Arsenic in Drinking Water • Atrazine • Pesticides

26. USDA Conservation • Conservation Programsassist owners of America's private land with conserving their soil, water, and other natural resources. Certain programs also provide financial assistance for agricultural producers to rehabilitate farmland damaged by natural disasters and pests • Natural Resources Conservation Service programs help people reduce soil erosion, enhance water supplies, improve water quality, increase wildlife habitat, and reduce damages caused by floods and other natural disasters • Farm Service Agency Conservation Programs address a large number of farming and ranching related conservation issues including; protecting drinking water, reducing soil erosion, preserving and restoring wildlife habitat, forests and wetlands, and aiding farmers impacted by natural disasters • FSA Laws and Regulations

27. Farmland Protection • Farmland Protection Policy Act (Pub. L. 97-98, Dec. 22, 1981, 95 Stat. 1341; 7 USC 4201) • Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 101-171, May 13, 2002; 116 Stat. 134; 7 USC 7901) • Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program  • Minnesota Agricultural Land Preservation Program (Minnesota Department of Agriculture)

28. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service • Conservation in a Changing Climate • Endangered Species • Environmental Contaminants • Fish and Aquatic Conservation • Hunting • Invasive Species • Strategic Habitat Conservation • Migratory Birds • National Wildlife Refuge System • Pollinators • Wetlands

29. Genetically Modified Organisms • Diamond v. Chakrabarty, 447 U.S. 303 (1980) • Patenting Life Forms: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (Chakrabarty, 2003) • Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs): Transgenic Crops and Recombinant DNA Technology (Theresa Phillips Nature Education 2008) • Biosafety Protocol for Genetically Modified Organisms: Overview (Congressional Research Service, 2000) • Dolly the Sheep (Roslin Institute) • Biotechnology (The National Agricultural Law Center)

30. Rural Development

31. USDA Rural Development • support essential public facilities and services as water and sewer systems, housing, health clinics, emergency service facilities and electric and telephone service • promote economic development by supporting loans to businesses through banks and community-managed lending pools • offer technical assistance and information to help agricultural and other cooperatives get started and improve the effectiveness of their member services • provide technical assistance to help communities undertake communityempowerment programs • $86 billion dollar portfolio of loans and we will administer nearly $16 billion in program loans, loan guarantees, and grants through our programs • Rural Development Instructions

32. United States Department of Agriculture • Rural and Community Development • Housing Financing; single family, multi-family • Infrastructure Financing to build, modernizing, maintain and repair electric, telecommunications and water infrastructure • Community Facilities Financing for essential community facilities - health clinics, schools, libraries child care centers, emergency services vehicles and equipment - in rural areas and towns of up to 20,000 people • Rural Energy Financingloan and loan guarantees and grants to agricultural producers, businesses, cooperatives and rural residents for renewable energy systems and to make energy efficiency improvements • Rural Development in Minnesota • Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response

33. Rural Development Loan Assistance • Business and Cooperative Loan Assistance • Housing and Community Facilities Loan Assistance • Utilities Loan Assistance • Rural Development Grant Assistance • Business and Cooperative Grant Assistance • Housing and Community Facilities Grant Assistance • Utilities Grants • Technical Assistance programs help ensure that rural areas are able to apply for funding opportunities provided by USDA Rural Development • Community and Economic Development Programs • Cooperative Programs

34. National Institute of Food and Agriculture • Established by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 replacing the former Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service which had been in existence since 1994 • an extensive network of state, regional, and county extension offices in every U.S. state and territory • Cooperative Extension System • Minnesota

35. 7 U.S.C. • CHAPTER 31 RURAL ELECTRIFICATION AND TELEPHONE SERVICE • Rural Electrification (1936) • Rural Telephone Service (1949) • Rural Electric and telephone Direct Loan Programs (1973) • Rural Telephone Bank (1936) • Rural Broadband Access (1936) • CHAPTER 31A TELEMEDICINE AND DISTANCE LEARNING SERVICES IN RURAL AREAS (1996) • CHAPTER 59 RURAL FIRE PROTECTION, DEVELOPMENT, AND SMALL FARM RESEARCH AND EDUCATION (1981)

36. 7 USC • CHAPTER 95—RURAL REVITALIZATION THROUGH FORESTRY (1990) • SUBCHAPTER I—FORESTRY RURAL REVITALIZATION • SUBCHAPTER II—NATIONAL FOREST-DEPENDENT RURAL COMMUNITIES Findings and Purpose

37. The Poultry Litter LandscapeFibrominn (Benson) Poultry Litter to Fuel Minnesota Power Plant

38. Ethanol • USDA • <ethanol> • Ethanol and a Changing Agricultural Landscape • U.S. ethanol production headed for decline (Star Tribune Nov 7, 2012) • Renewable energy

40. Ethanol Producer Magazine • Ethanol Producers and Consumers • The largest producer of ethanol in the U.S. is Archer Daniels Midland an agricultural giant in the United States. The company possesses a network of railcars, trucks, storage facilities, and barges that are capable of delivering high-grade ethanol and is working on new ways to produce ethanol that draw on agricultural waste products like cellulose. ADM has profits of $10.98 billion in 2006, and operates in North America, South America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Pacific Rim • VeraSun Energy (Wikipedia) – VeraSun Energy files for bankruptcy (MPR) • The Behind-the-Scenes Struggle Over Ethanol (US News, Nov 11, 2008) • Institute for Local Self Reliance • After the Ethanol Bubble (MPR News) • Cultivating a New Rural Economy (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy) • E15 fuel arrives in Twin Cities -- it's 15 cents a gallon cheaper than E10 (Star Tribune Oct. 29, 2013)