Ag Insight

BY JIM ERICKSON

While agricultural programs in the Biden Administration’s Build Back Better program haven’t received the public attention that other provisions have, the measure’s framework includes more than $27 billion for climate-smart agriculture and Farm Bill conservation programs.

As with most federal programs, much can happen between when a measure is proposed and when it’s approved, or even later. But the anticipated $27 billion in spending does represent the largest investment in conservation since the Dust Bowl and would provide what is viewed by some farm leaders as a transformative level of support to farmers, ranchers, wildlife and the climate. A number of conservation, agricultural and sportsmen’s organizations have endorsed the measure.

In a related development, the European Union (EU) and the United States have announced a newly-created transatlantic collaboration platform on agriculture designed to take on the global challenges of sustainability and climate change. The recently-reached agreement was revealed in a joint statement from EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski and US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. The pact calls for the exchange of knowledge and information and for promoting mutual understanding and trust “as we work together to address global challenges and achieve common goals.”

Although the United States receives fresh vegetables from more than 125 different countries, most imports originate from Mexico and Canada, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. In 2020, Mexico accounted for 77% of U.S. fresh vegetable import volume, and Canada represented 11%.

An analysis of domestic census and trade data shows Mexican and Canadian producers have dominated the U.S. import market by offering protected culture – or greenhouse – imports, as well as organic options, which increased choices for consumers. Conventional and field-grown fresh vegetables still account for most imports, but organic and green-

house vegetables are expanding market reach.

Between 1998 and 2020, the volume of fresh vegetable imports increased nearly 200%, and the value of fresh vegetable imports grew to exceed fresh exports by $7.6 billion, more than double the same figure a decade earlier.

Market window creep is an extension of seasonal demand and refers to the increasing volume of fresh vegetable imports entering during the start or end of the traditional domestic production seasons. Over time, the categorization of vegetables into summer and winter categories has dwindled as near yearround imports of both categories of produce proliferated. Many traditional domestic market windows have eroded as importers have found their own market windows expanding.

Other trade agreements have also provided access to increased supplies of fresh vegetables. Trade data shows that over time, this resulted in increased bilateral trade with the United States and vaulted Peru and Guatemala into the top five foreign sources of fresh vegetables.

In addition to trade agreements, exchange rates also affect the purchasing power of vegetable imports relative to domestic vegetable production.

The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries (ADAI) will work with Auburn University, Alabama Cooperative Extension Systems, Alabama A&M University and the Alabama Urban Forestry Association on a variety of programs designed to strengthen the specialty crop industry.

Part of a nationwide effort being financed by $243 million in grants through two USDA programs, the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program and the Specialty Crop Research Initiative grants program, more than a dozen Alabama initiatives are listed as recipients.

With the grants from the two USDA programs, Alabama will receive some $1.225 million for activities in the state. Crops involved range from strawberries and blueberries to Christmas trees and pecans. Irrigation, water quality and other management-related issues also are included.

ADAI is one of 56 grant recipients nationwide that will fund sub-awards for activities and programs to increase demand for agricultural goods and address issues facing the specialty crop industry.

Households struggling to put enough food on the table may participate in Federal nutrition assistance programs and community food assistance programs, such as food pantries, to help meet their food needs. And data from USDA’s ERS shows that use of food pantries increased from 2019 to 2020.

Food pantries typically provide free food for clients to take home and prepare. Often affiliated with faithbased organizations, pantries rely heavily on volunteers.

Some households may turn to food pantries only in times of emergency, while others may use food pantries on a more regular basis.

The USDA data shows that 6.7% of all U.S. households reported using a food pantry in 2020, an increase from 4.4% in 2019. Comparable data on food-pantry use is available going back to 2001, and since then the previously reported high for use of food pantries was in 2014, when 5.5% of U.S. households used them.

Across all types of households, including various racial and ethnic groups, food pantry use was up in 2020 from 2019. Nearly all annual increases in food pantry use in 2020 were statistically significant; men living alone is the only group for which the change in food pantry use was not statistically significant.

Helping farmers turn the tide on an emerging disease of corn called tar spot is the focus of a multi-organization team of scientists, including from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Caused by the fungus Phyllachora maydis, tar spot appears as black, roughly circular discolorations on the leaves, husks and stalks of corn plants. A tan halo sometimes surrounds the spore-filled spots, creating what’s known as a fish-eye lesion.

Outbreaks of the disease, which was first detected in northern Indiana and Illinois in 2015, can reduce grain yields by 20 to 60 bushels an acre. Tar spot is now also found in corn-growing areas of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, and Southwestern Ontario, Canada.

Although fungicides offer the hardest-hitting counterpunch, resistance to tar spot disease in corn is far more preferable, plant pathologists say. As a result, research is targeting a number of areas, including:

• Screening existing commercial corn varieties and germplasm lines for their resistance or susceptibility to tar spot so that growers can adjust their disease management practices accordingly. • Developing tools known as molecular markers to quickly and efficiently identify a gene known to confer tar spot resistance in corn, namely Qrtsc8. Corn plants that lack the gene but are still resistant to the disease are also of interest, since an entirely new gene or genes unknown to science could be at play. Potentially, such sources of resistance could also prove useful in shoring up the crop’s defenses even further. • Determining the biocontrol potential of a community of microorganisms known as the microbiome that was observed on tar-spot-resistant but not susceptible corn plants. The goal is to understand how environmental factors, plant growth stage and the associated corn microbiome affect tar spot disease progression and how all these factors are interconnected. • Identification of several proteins the tar spot fungus uses to “short circuit” the defenses of susceptible plants—and how, in turn, these proteins could be exploited for better detection of different strains of the fungus and their severity in fields.

With concerns about climate change looming large, results of a study by researchers at the University of Florida are likely welcome news for those worried about the impact on agriculture.

According to the research results, the university team predicts the supply chains for two of Americans’ most popular plant-based foods, potatoes and tomatoes, are surprisingly resilient to climate change.

To make their predictions, the researchers de-

veloped an innovative modeling approach to the assessment of climate adaptation and mitigation opportunities in fruit and vegetable supply chains. The team has now applied their analysis method to carrots, green beans, spinach, strawberries and sweet corn.

The new research, published in Nature Food, was supported by a grant from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The interdisciplinary research team includes other scientists from the International Food Policy Research Institute, University of Arkansas, University of Illinois, Washington State University and the World Agricultural Economic and Environmental Services.

Clifton Warren, Jr. was raised on a family farm in Greene County, Alabama. He has over 25 years of service to his country, including three years in the U.S. Army and 22 years at Farm Service Agency (FSA). Warren first joined FSA in 1999 as a Temporary Program Technician and has held many roles in the years since, including County Operations Trainee, Program Technician, County Operations Reviewer, and County Executive Director for the counties of Hale, Perry and Bibb. He most recently worked as the District Director for FSA offices in 13 counties. Warren attended DeVry University in Atlanta, Georgia, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Management with a concentration in Human Resource Management and Project Management.

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