OMB Reviewing Hours-of-Service Rule for Ag Commodities
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is moving forward with a rule regarding the hours of service in relation to the transportation of agricultural commodities.
An interim final rule was sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review on Wednesday, Sept. 30. OMB allows for up to 90 days for review. If cleared, the rule will be published in the Federal Register and made public.
Back in July 2019, FMCSA issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking seeking public comments on the definitions of “agricultural commodity” in the hours-of-service regulations.
The agency received 145 comments on the notice. Many of those comments, which came mostly from agricultural associations and individuals, supported efforts to provide clarity and consistency to the definition and exemptions.
USDA Announces $14 Billion in Additional Funding for Farmers Impacted by COVID-19 Market Disruptions
President Donald J. Trump and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced up to an additional $14 billion dollars for agricultural producers who continue to face market disruptions and associated costs because of COVID-19. Signup for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP 2) began September 21st and run through December 11, 2020.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will use funds being made available from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act and CARES Act to support row crops, livestock, specialty crops, dairy, aquaculture and many additional commodities. USDA has incorporated improvements in CFAP 2 based from stakeholder engagement and public feedback to better meet the needs of impacted farmers and ranchers.
There is a payment limitation of $250,000 per person or entity for all commodities combined. Applicants who are corporations, limited liability companies, limited partnerships may qualify for additional payment limits when members actively provide personal labor or personal management for the farming operation. In addition, this special payment limitation provision has been expanded to include trusts and estates for both CFAP 1 and 2.
ASTA Alert: Stewardship and Management of Treated Seed: Stewardship and Maintenance
As harvest wraps up across the country, ASTA wants to take the opportunity to remind seed companies about the importance of taking precautions to ensure surplus treated seed is managed properly, and to remind seed companies of a number of resources available to them in connection with the stewardship of treated seeds.
Managing treated seed properly is not just a good practice: it is critical to maintain access to seed treatment products that are under increasing scrutiny. For example, in public comments to EPA in June, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) alleged that "EPA has failed to consider the significant environmental risks and costs of the use of neonic-treated seed to produce ethanol." While ASTA does not necessarily agree with NRDC's allegations, and some of the language in the comments regarding seed treatments is misleading and taken out of context, we want to draw your attention to specific references to allegations of improper disposal of treated seed at an ethanol plant in Nebraska (see page 6 of the comments).
Regardless of the disposal method utilized, disposal of treated seed requires special handling and permitting. Seed companies should verify that anyone accepting treated seed for disposal possesses the proper city, state and federal permits. Specifically -
Consult with your state and local authorities to ensure that your disposal plan is in compliance with all appropriate regulations.
Disposal facilities will, in many cases, be required to have an EPA permit, or a permit issued by a State or local agency, to dispose of pesticides, pesticide contaminated rinse water, or pesticide treated seed. Whether a facility has the proper permits to dispose of a particular quantity of a "particular pesticide" can only be determined by directly contacting the specific facility or the applicable State or local agency.
Properly permitted ethanol plants can use treated seed as an alternate power source. However, a very limited number of ethanol plants have the permits necessary to ferment treated seed. In all situations, byproducts from the ethanol production process cannot enter the food or feed channels and no measurable pesticide residues are allowed. The same situation applies for wastewater and air emissions, as well.
Seed companies should practice due diligence in ensuring the entire pathway of treated seed disposal is complete and complies with all applicable laws, regulations and label instructions.
Note that some states may have more stringent regulations than others. In addition, treated seed, and resultant seed dust, are subject to solid waste regulations at the state and/or local levels. Always check state and local regulations prior to disposing of treated seed or dust.
Resources for Outreach & Communications:
ASTA and other stakeholder groups have developed a set of recommendations to assist those involved in the process of treating, handling, transporting, or planting treated seeds. These recommendations can be found in a number of new and redesigned communication resources. A one-pager graphically displays the five steps for stewardship of treated seed, and outlines why and how seed treatments are used, including what the crop protection and seed industries are doing to ensure their safe use. A set of videos explore topics including: improving performance and safety with seed treatments; the five steps for stewardship of treated seed; andhow seed treatments support sustainability.
A technology provider – Bioceres Crop Solutions, based in Germany – on Oct. 8 announced that Argentina has approved its biotechnology-enhanced wheat trait, HB4, for production and consumption.
The company said it marked the first time a country has approved the HB4 drought-tolerant trait for wheat. Argentina’s regulatory clearance follows its approval of Bioceres’ HB4 soybean trait, which it said has been approved for planting in the United States, Brazil and Argentina. The company said HB4’s wheat commercialization in Argentina is contingent upon receiving import approval from Brazil, which typically purchases more than 85 percent of its wheat imports from Argentina.
The company said it also is pursuing regulatory import approvals for HB4 wheat in the United States, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia. Bioceres said it also intends to initiate regulatory-approval processes in Australia and Russia, as well as “certain countries in Asia and Africa.”
Drought-tolerant HB4 wheat is a patented seed technology developed by Trigall Genetics, Bioceres’ joint venture with the wheat genetics firm Florimond Desprez. In field trials conducted during the last 10 years, Bioceres asserted that HB4 seed varieties increased wheat yields by an average 20 percent during drought-affected growing seasons. In addition to mitigating production losses during drought conditions, the company touts HB4 for facilitating double-crop rotations with soybeans. The company said the backbone of its HB4 technology is a gene derived from sunflowers.
Bioceres said HB4 is integrated with wheat germplasms and branded as EcoWheat®, which combines other Bioceres biotechnologies, such as Rizoderma®, a biofungicide. In preparation for the commercial launch of EcoWheat, the company said approximately 17,300 acres of different varieties of the trait have been planted by participating growers during its latest ramp-up cycle of seed inventories. “This process continues to employ robust, closed (loop) growing systems that are combined with a high level of traceability through state-of-the-art digital farming technologies and strong stewardship, to ensure environmentally friendly farming practices,” the company maintained.
Soil Compacted Post-Harvest? Look to Cover Crops
Cover crops provide multiple benefits in an almond orchard. In addition to providing a healthy food source for pollinators, they also can help growers deal with challenging soil issues, including compaction.
For the third year in a row, Chris Rishwain is preparing to plant cover crops in the windrows of his 150-acre almond orchard near Manteca. Although his original intent was to provide forage for honey bees during pollination, Rishwain has discovered multiple additional benefits to cover crops, one of the most impactful being the positive effect they have on compacted soil.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Oct. 5 revised its COVID-19 guidance by acknowledging that the virus sometimes can spread through airborne particles that can “linger in the air for minutes to hours” and among people who are more than six feet apart.
In addition, CDC said that in some circumstances, individuals can become infected by airborne transmission after the infectious person already has left the area. While CDC maintains that the principal mode by which people are infected with COVID-19 is through exposure to respiratory droplets carrying infectious virus, the agency’s concept of “respiratory droplets” has evolved to include both “larger droplets” and “smaller droplets and particles.”
CDC’s new two-page guidance states that airborne transmission of COVID-19 sometimes can occur under “certain conditions…within enclosed spaces that had inadequate ventilation.” But CDC’s guidance states that available data indicate it is much more common for the virus that causes COVID-19 to spread through close contact with an infected person than through airborne transmission. Conditions under which airborne transmission of COVID-19 has been observed to occur include within enclosed spaces that had inadequate ventilation in which an infected person produced respiratory droplets for an extended period of time, such as when the infected person is breathing heavily. Other circumstances in which airborne transmission has been observed include prolonged exposure in an area with poor ventilation or following expiratory exertion (e.g., singing or exercising). Overall, CDC still views the primary mode of transmission to be close contact with an infected person (i.e., direct contact within less than six feet).
As a result, CDC maintains that the current preventive safety measures when in close contact are the most effective at preventing the spread of disease, including six-foot social distancing, frequent hand-washing, use of cloth face coverings or masks, isolating when sick, and cleaning and disinfecting frequently-touched or potentially contaminated surfaces. Yet, CDC also notes that “touching surfaces is not thought to be a common way that COVID-19 spreads.”
CDC also added the directive to “avoid crowded indoor spaces and ensure indoor spaces are properly ventilated by bringing in outdoor air as much as possible. In general, being outdoors and in spaces with good ventilation reduces the risk of exposure to infectious respiratory droplets,” the agency said.” Further, CDC stressed the importance of having effective ventilation in enclosed spaces to prevent and minimize the potential for COVID-19 transmission.
