Trump Forms Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, the Trump Administration released its “Presidential Executive Order on Promoting Agriculture and Rural Prosperity in America” — and a report from the Interagency Task Force, something this order creates, is due in 180 days. For fans of the White House Rural Council — this replaces that.

The Task Force shall identify legislative, regulatory, and policy changes to promote in rural America agriculture, economic development, job growth, infrastructure improvements, technological innovation, energy security, and quality of life, including changes that:

(i) remove barriers to economic prosperity and quality of life in rural America;

(ii) advance the adoption of innovations and technology for agricultural production and long-term, sustainable rural development;

(iii) strengthen and expand educational opportunities for students in rural communities, particularly in agricultural education, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics;

(iv) empower the State, local, and tribal agencies that implement rural economic development, agricultural, and environmental programs to tailor those programs to relevant regional circumstances;

(v) respect the unique circumstances of small businesses that serve rural communities and the unique business structures and regional diversity of farms and ranches;

(vi) require executive departments and agencies to rely upon the best available science when reviewing or approving crop protection tools;

(vii) ensure access to a reliable workforce and increase employment opportunities in agriculture-related and rural-focused businesses;

(viii) promote the preservation of family farms and other agribusiness operations as they are passed from one generation to the next, including changes to the estate tax and the tax valuation of family or cooperatively held businesses;

(ix) ensure that water users’ private property rights are not encumbered when they attempt to secure permits to operate on public lands;

(x) improve food safety and ensure that regulations and policies implementing Federal food safety laws are based on science and account for the unique circumstances of farms and ranches;

(xi) encourage the production, export, and use of domestically produced agricultural products;

(xii) further the Nation’s energy security by advancing traditional and renewable energy production in the rural landscape; and

(xiii) address hurdles associated with access to resources on public lands for the rural communities that rely on cattle grazing, timber harvests, mining, recreation, and other multiple uses.

Takeaways from the establishment of the goals

1. First of all, it’s going to be a report, and DC reports have a funny way of ending up on dusty shelves. Unless there’s something dramatic in there that appeals to Congress or the President.

2. Let’s not put food safety, water rights, relying on science, advancing technology adoption, giving a shout-out to small business, being sensitive to regional considerations, or big federal rural education programs on the “something big plate”. Those will fit in to the Farm Bill or fit into other broader initiatives led by other task forces — such as any educational or small business effort.

Section 1. Policy. A reliable, safe, and affordable food, fiber, and forestry supply is critical to America’s national security, stability, and prosperity. It is in the national interest to promote American agriculture and protect the rural communities where food, fiber, forestry, and many of our renewable fuels are cultivated. It is further in the national interest to ensure that regulatory burdens do not unnecessarily encumber agricultural production, harm rural communities, constrain economic growth, hamper job creation, or increase the cost of food for Americans and our customers around the world.

See that bolded reference to renewable fuels? By our best estimate that’s the first reference out in White House document to the existence of renewable fuels in more than five years.

The signal could not be unmistakable that the RFS will be enforced so long as it results in domestic production, dollars and significant numbers of jobs for Rural America.

Our take. What will save the RFS and make the case for advanced or any other kind of renewable fuel — for this Administration — is capacity-building, domestic use where possible, export otherwise.

The Complete Executive Order It’s right here. READ MORE and MORE (Environmental and Energy Study Institute) and MORE (Energy.AgWired.com) and MORE (Agri-View)

Excerpt from Environmental and Energy Study Institute: However, the President or his advisors’ statements and budget proposal have caused confusion and consternation in rural circles. USDA faces a 21 percent cut in the President’s ‘skinny budget’; bipartisan supported programs that assist rural communities, such as the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and the Low-Income House Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) would be completely eliminated. Shifting priorities on trade, immigration and biofuels have left the ag community wondering what, exactly, are the President’s priorities for rural America. READ MORE