Food and Agricultural News Update

A new year always brings new laws and this year will bring attention to renewing the Farm Bill sometime this fall.

In the meantime, the following are of interest:

Working Farms Fund

The metro areas where sustainably grown food is sought is the same area where developers are looking to build. Acreage growing food in metro Chicago went from 11,000 acres in 1995 to 4,600 acres in the mid-2010s.

The Conservation Fund is chartered for both land and water conservation and sustainable economic development. It recently received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop its new Working Farms Fund program. It is national but now active in metro Chicago.

They are trying to conserve farmland to prevent its loss and work to increase the supply of food in the region. They are trying to create affordability for farmers, particularly young and new farmers, to help them acquire farmland.

The program is a buy, support, protect and sell model. The Conservation Fund purchases 20- to 500-acre farms facing development and then gives farmers immediate access to the land under a flexible lease with the exclusive option to buy the farm from the fund in three to five years.

From an article written by Martha Blum in Illinois AgriNews, 12/23/2022.

Large Grocer Mergers

Bruce Shultz, Vice president of the National Farmers Organization published his opposition to the mergers of large grocers in the December 23, 2022 issue of Illinois AgriNews.

He contends that it takes away profit from farmers because of the control that just a few entities can have over inputs, production, and sale.

A potential merger of Kroger and Albertsons is envisioned by their CEOs as being a means to save the combined companies over $1 billion in administration and distribution costs. They believe that this will allow them to lower the prices they are paying distributors because this means that more products will be sold to a single and larger retailer.

For Shultz, it means that they will keep the newest and better performing stores and sell the underperforming stores. Local jobs will be lost. If they combine, they would control 15 percent of the grocery marketplace. Agricultural producers have been dealing with consolidation in input costs and markets such that three companies control 62 percent of the export market in grains. The big four meatpackers control more than 80 percent of the market.

Shultz hopes that the Federal Trade commission denies this merger. Five state attorneys general plus the District of Columbia are currently suing to stop this merger. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D MN) andMike Lee (R UT) the chairwoman and ranking member, respectively, of the U. S. Senate Judiciary Sub-committee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights have stated to have serious concerns about the proposed transaction.

From a column written by Bruce Shulta, V.P. of the Nat'l Farmers Org., in Illinois AgriNews 12/23/2022.

Asian Carp

Sorce Enterprises, a food distribution and trucking company for quick service restaurants in East Peoria is now focusing on the Asian carp business. It is now known as Sorce Freshwater Co. and teams up with local fishermen and nets to take in about 150,000 pounds of Asian carp per week.

It processes about 4,000 pounds weekly into finished goods for human consumption. The most popular are minced products and strips which can be utilized in many recipes including chili, fish tacos, or as fried or baked items. The fish has been renamed Copi as part of the rebranding effort unveiled by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources this past June. The name Copi comes from "copious" because each female Asian carp can produce 2-5 million eggs per year.

Copi/Asian carp is the most consumed fish in the world, excpet in the US. The President of Sorce Freshwater says that it is a very mild, odor-free white fish which is quite versatile in a number of recipes and is the second-healthiest fish behind only wild-caught salmon.

Individual retail sale is done through the online farmers market - Market Wagon (MarketWagon.com).

From an article written by Daniel Grant, in FarmWeek, 12/19/2022.

Ag Provisions in the Federal Budget

There are a number of items in the recently approved $1.7 trillion year-end spending bill which affect agriculture.

It provides $25.5 billion in discretionary funds for USDA and FDA.

Approximately $3.74 billion goes to USDA to assist farmers who had losses on crops, dairy products, on-farm stored commodities and crops which prevented them from planting in 2022. Up to $494.5 million is set aside for livestock producers who suffered losses.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will receive $153 billion to cover the expansion of recipients' SNAP benefits first authorized during the coronavirus pandemic. Various nutrition programs aimed at helping low-income families will receive $34.6 billion. Another $2.2 billion will go to international food aid efforts, with $1.75 billion for Food for Peace grants and $243 million for the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition program.

The bill also contains provisions allowing USDA to establish standards and verification rules for agricultural carbon market programs.

Nearly $4 billion is allocated for rural development programs. This includes $455 million for broadband expansion and $4.3 billion in guaranteed underwriting loans for the Rural Electric Program.

The Farm Service Agency will distribute $2.19 billion in guaranteed operating loans and $1.64 billion in direct ownership loans.

From an article written by Timothy Eggert in FarmWeek, 1/2/2023.

Ukraine and Ag Losses

Andriy Chrikov, manager of a giant chicken farm on Ukraine's Black Sea Coast reported almost total devastation of the farm when the Ukrainians took it back from the Russians. The Avangard Group's Chornobaivske chicken farm used to export a billion eggs a year. It was one of the largest exporters of these bird's eggs.

The Russian soldiers slaughtered over 4 million chickens. The farm was essentially a highly automated factory with the birds being fed, watered and having eggs collected by automated machinery. What was not stolen by the Russians was destroyed or made inoperable.

Ukraine's agricultural sector accounted for 20 percent of Ukraine's gross domestic product and more than 40 percent of all exports. Almost a quarter of this sector has now been lost or damaged.
From an article written by Alistair MacDonald for the Wall St. Journal, 1/8/2023.

Unregulated Spices Can Cause Lead Poisoning   

Contaminated spices were found to be the second-leading cause of lead poisoning in Douglas County (i.e., Omaha, NE) children in 2021. Medical testing by the Douglas County Health Department found it to be due to families fleeing war-torn Afghanistan who were using spices purchased in their home countries. This was also true of families coming from India, Myanmar and other areas of South Asia.

Refugee/Asian immigrant children made up 25 percent of lead poisoning cases in Douglas County in 2021.

The broader community could also be exposed because testing has found lead and other contaminants in spices sold at grocery stores around the world, including under major brand names in the U.S.

The spices most likely to contain lead include cumin, curry power, masala, paprika, turmeric and chili power. Herbs most likely to contain lead include oregano and bay leaves. Lead has also been found in some tea leaves and dark chocolate.

No limits on heavy metals have been placed by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration. It is in talks with the American Spice Trade Association to learn more about contaminants in spices and options for working together to help reduce levels.

Consumer Reports tested 126 herbs and spices in 2021 and found that almost one-third contained heavy metals at levels high enough to raise health concerns.

The American Spice Trade Association said that it supports FDA limits on heavy metals in spices. It noted that the European Commission has set limits and that the World Health organization is studying the issue.

Lead gets into the spices generally during manufacturing, but it can also come from the environment during cultivation or from cookware during food preparation. In some cases lead is intentionally added to spices. Researchers have found that some manufacturers will add lead chromate to turmeric to give it a brighter yellow color or increase the weight and, therefore, profitability.

From an article by Nancy Gaarder in the Omaha World-Herald, 1/7/2023.

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Lynne Ostfeld is a solo practitioner with her primary office in Chicago. She has a second office on a family farm in Peoria County, Illinois, and is associated with the law firm DMALEX Avocats in Paris, France. Ostfeld has a general civil practice and concentrates on legal assistance to small and medium sized companies and individuals, in the US and in France. In 2017, Ostfeld was awarded the Medal of Knight of the French National Order of Merit for her work for the French in the Midwest, as legal advisor to the Consulate of France in Chicago.