Washington Insider-- Wednesday

By DTN's Washington Insider

Here's a quick monitor of Washington farm and trade policy issues from DTN's well-placed observer.

Agriculture Committees Won’t be Alone in Oversight of USDA Programs

The chairmen of the House and Senate Agriculture committee have promised to conduct a number of oversight hearings this year, with their focus primarily on the roll-out of the new 2014 farm bill programs and the decades-old Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps). And the committees won’t be alone. Last week, USDA Inspector General Phillis Fong told the House Agriculture Appropriations subcommittee that her office also plans a series of investigations into department programs.

Congressional Quarterly reports that Fong told the subcommittee that her office is auditing SNAP to make sure the department’s current reporting of a 3.2% error rate for over and under payments is accurate. Should the IG find that the SNAP error rate is higher than reported by USDA, it likely will come as good news to those members of Congress who are tired of hearing critics of federal crop insurance point out that the error rate for that program far exceeds that of SNAP.

Also likely to be heartened by a higher than previously reported SNAP error rate are those members who see 2015 as an opportunity to reform the program in a way that would make fewer individuals eligible for government assistance.

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Hypoxia Task Force Significantly Trims Goals

States in the Mississippi River watershed have fallen far short of their goal of reducing the size of the oxygen-depleted hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico to 1,930 square miles by 2015, according to a report by the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient (Hypoxia) Task Force. Bowing to the realities of their undertaking, the task force member states now say they will give themselves another 20 years –– until 2035 –– to reduce the size of the zone to a less ambitious goal of 2,000 square miles. The hypoxia zone now spans 5,792 square miles, an area that is largely unchanged since 1994.

Hypoxia is caused by low oxygen levels due to the rapid growth of algae caused by excessive discharges of the plant nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus. A 2007 Science Advisory Board report recommended that a 45% reduction in nitrogen and phosphorus entering the Gulf would be needed to make a difference in the size of the zone, a recommendation with which the hypoxia task force now agrees.

The US Geological Survey attributes 70% of the nutrient loading to agriculture, which indicates that over the next 20 years –– and likely longer –– agriculture is likely to be at the forefront of activities aimed at curbing nutrient runoff

Washington Insider: Dr. Miller on Organics

There is nothing new about claims and counter claims about the benefits — or lack thereof — from certified organic foods. However, a recent opinion piece by Dr. Henry Miller is attracting some attention because of his record as a physician and molecular biologist, a Fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy at Stanford University — and, his record as founding director of the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Biotechnology. Miller also gained attention due to his outspoken style.

A number of U.S. experts have a "live and let live" approach to organics, but not Miller. He wrote in the Wall Street Journal that organic agriculture is an expensive, expansive "hoax" on consumers as well as an affront to the environment "because its low yields are wasteful of water and farmland." He asserts that the program survives only because of government subsidies and promotion, and "black marketing" that dishonestly disparages the competition.

First, there are the standards themselves. Miller says not only are they "wholly arbitrary," but they also are "not being enforced very effectively," and he offers an investigation by the Wall Street Journal newspaper to prove it. The data include a number of cases where USDA flagged inspections for "incomplete evaluations, use of banned pesticides and antibiotics and commingling of organic and nonorganic products," Miller pointed out.

He calls the "organic" designation a synthetic construct of activists and bureaucrats that makes little sense and that is based on principles and techniques with nothing to do with the ultimate quality or composition of the final products.

He further argues that organics have never been found to be healthier than non-organic foods or to offer environmental benefits. He offers broad sets of studies published in well-known journals such as in the Annals of Internal Medicine to examine whether organic foods are safer or healthier. He concludes that "organic" products were on average no more nutritious than their far cheaper conventional counterparts and they were at least as likely to be contaminated by pathogenic bacteria like E. coli or Salmonella.

Miller comes down heavily on the contamination issue, and says organic foods are notorious for it, again citing a long list of experts and studies to make his case. "Organic foods are recalled 4 to 8 times more frequently than their conventional counterparts," he argues. This is hardly surprising, he notes, since aside from the presence of pathogenic bacteria, organic grains are particularly susceptible to toxins from fungi.

He also is adamant in his conviction that organic farms have lower yields than conventional ones. Organic corn has around 70% of the yield of conventional corn, he says and organic rice has 59% of the yield of conventional rice. Organic spring wheat has 47% of the yield of conventional spring wheat. Organic cabbage has 43% of the yield of conventional cabbage. He uses this to support his argument that organics are wasteful.

Miller is especially critical of organic rules that prevent use of genetically modified organisms and argues that with many areas of the planet in the throes of drought, genetically engineered plants that can grow with less water, or with lower-quality water, may ultimately prove to be genetic engineering's greatest commercial and humanitarian contribution.

So, Miller's view is clear, and he adds a somewhat "cute" point that the foodies argument about their "right to know" is countered by an equal obligation to describe non-GMO products like potatoes to inform consumers that these are "highly subject to bruising, and when cooked, may contain significant amounts of acrylamide, a probable carcinogen." With that, he calls the anti-GMO groups "like the Luddites of old" and increasingly on the wrong side of history.

Certainly, we can expect floods of criticism of the Journal and Miller, which he welcomes along with further debate. You don't have to like his tone, but certainly his pursuit of facts and endless citations of studies is a welcome addition to a debate that has been focused on vague "anti-corporate" criticisms and threats of nonspecific health dangers.

His focus on facts, even if a little strident and somewhat overwhelming, is welcome Washington Insider believes.

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(GH/CZ)

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