Markets & News: Signal to Noise with Jim Wiesemeyer

USDA announced this week that Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) payments would start flowing again in April.  In this week's DC Signal to Noise Podcast, Jim Wiesemeyer of Pro Farmer and Farm Journal's John Herath provide details on the payments and the CFAP decisions still left to be made by USDA.

Other topics covered this week include:

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The U.S. and China fought openly in the first face-to-face meeting with the Biden Administration this week in Alaska. Despite the tension in the negotiation hall, China continued with big buys of U.S. corn.  Pro Farmer's Jim Wiesmeyer and John Herath of Farm Journal look at the signals being sent by both sides in this week's DC Signal to Noise Podcast.

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Former House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) isn't letting any moss grow under his feet following his reelection defeat in November. He has inked a consulting deal with Combest, Sell & Associates, an ag-focused consulting firm founded by another former House Ag Committee chairman, Larry Combest of Texas.

In this week's DC Signal to Noise Podcast, Peterson joins Pro Farmer's Jim Wiesemeyer, John Herath of Farm Journal and Combest - Sell co-founder Tom Sell to look at the future of the ag committee and the mountain of issues it faces from carbon capture and equal access to coronavirus assistance and much more.

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There was anticipation that USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack would focus on carbon sequestration and climate change as he addressed a virtual Commodity Classic on Friday. Instead his focus was on expanding market opportunities for farmers. 

On this week's DC Signal to Noise Podcast, Pro Farmer's Jim Wiesemeyer and John Herath of Farm Journal discuss how the expanding markets approach is another avenue for building support for USDA's carbon market plan.

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The House Agriculture Committee is often touted as a sanctum of bipartisanship. It was anything but as the first markup of the 117th Congress was held, examining a majority-drafted coronavirus aid bill. 

One Republican sponsored amendment, also backed by Democrat Cindy Axne of Iowa, made it through committee.  That addition, that would have extended WHIP+ disaster aid to 2020 events such as the Iowa derecho, was stripped out of the legislation in the rules committee.

House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Glenn Thompson joins the DC signal to Noise Podcast to discuss the partisanship on the committee, whether it can be healed, and the counter proposal being offered up by the committee's Republicans.

He also discusses the return of earmarks, the Biden Administration's immigration overhaul plan, agriculture's role in combating climate change, broadband access and much more.

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The Biden Administration this week put forward an immigration reform package that would give a path to citizenship for immigrants already in the United States. That plan would give priority to ag workers, but would not expand the H2A visa plan for those ag workers.  Paul Bleiberg of the National Milk Producers Federation joins Pro Farmer's Jim Wiesemeyer and John Herath of Farm Journal to sort through the details of the immigration proposal on this week's DC Signal to Noise Podcast.  The three see the Biden immigration package as an opening offer in what will be a series of negotiations over issues such as the ag exemption for overtime and an expanded H2A program.

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Ag groups are gearing up for a new fight over the so-called 'Death Tax." Tax proposals put forth by President Joe Biden's transition team call for a dramatic reduction in the exemption on taxes on estates and could end a step up in basis for heirs. Farm CPA Paul Neiffer of CliftonLarsonAllen joins Jim Wiesemeyer and John Herath on this week's DC Signal to Noise Podcast to walk through the possible changes and what farm owners can do to protect their assets. 

This week's podcast also features a conversation with Cong. Austin Scott (R-GA) on the growing partisan rift in the House Agriculture Committee that was exposed in a hearing this week on the Democrats covid aid proposal.

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Tom Vilsick fittingly sought a return to the helm of USDA appearing at a confirmation hearing on Groundhog Day. The hearings for Vilsack and nominee Michael Regan for EPA also saw the return of some terms familiar to agriculture, including Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) and Waters of the U.S.(WOTUS).

In this week's DC Signal to Noise Podcast, Pro Farmer's Jim Wiesemeyer and Farm Journal's John Herath look at why both issues are returning to the forefront and how both might impact agriculture.

Other issues covered include:

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USDA put a freeze on Coronavirus Food Aid Program (CFAP) payments as the new administration reviews all rules put in place by a lame duck Trump Administration. Could that review bring changes to the CFAP payments? Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said this week she is going to push to make sure priorities she included in the coronavirus aid packages are funded the way she intended. On this week's DC Signal to Noise Podcast, Pro Farmer's Jim Wiesemeyer and John Herath of Farm Journal analyze how that could impact future CFAP payments.

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The Trump and Obama administrations had very different relationships with agriculture and rural America. Will the Biden Administration learn any lessons from those two predecessors? Pro Farmer's Jim Wiesemeyer and Farm Journal's John Herath look at the relationship between ag and the incoming administration in this week's DC Signal to Noise Podcast.

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