News: What to watch as 2021 begins — The new dietary guidelines

Monday, January 4, 2021

What to watch as 2021 begins — The new dietary guidelines — Un-relocating a federal agency?

Jan 04, 2021

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DRIVING THE WEEK

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome back to your Weekly Agriculture report. We hope everyone had a safe, happy and restful holiday. There's a lot on tap this week, so let's get right into it.

First up, the Senate candidates in Georgia are making their closing arguments ahead of tomorrow's two runoff elections. The races will determine whether Republicans maintain their grip on the chamber or Democrats control both sides of the Capitol as well as the White House.

— The last-minute messaging has become muddled, with much of the discussion dominated by President Donald Trump's calls to overturn the state's presidential election results. Trump is scheduled to hold a rally tonight for GOP incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, a Senate Agriculture member.

Meanwhile, the 117th Congress is already underway, and the pandemic continues looming over Capitol Hill. The House even set up a plexiglass enclosure in the chamber's gallery to allow several lawmakers exposed to the virus to cast their votes.

— ICYMI: Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks , who was elected by just six votes, will hold the southeastern Iowa seat "provisionally" until the House resolves a challenge of the razor-thin results by Rita Hart, the Democratic candidate.

What else to watch: An infusion of aid is on its way to farmers, ranchers and hungry families after Congress passed a $900 billion coronavirus response bill last month. As we monitor the rollout of those funds in the weeks ahead, keep an ear out for talk of a follow-up stimulus package that President-elect Joe Biden has said will still be needed this year.

IT'S MONDAY, JAN. 4. What's on your radar as 2021 gets started? Let us know, at rmccrimmon@politico.com and @ryanmccrimmon, and follow us @Morning_Ag.

Groceries in a checkout line.

Groceries in a checkout line. | Getty Images

THE NEW DIETARY GUIDELINES, TRUMP-ERA EDITION: The Trump administration over the holidays published its formal guidance for healthy eating — and decided to buck the advice of external scientific advisers who recommended that men drink less alcohol and that everyone cut down on added sugars, our Helena Bottemiller Evich reports.

The official Dietary Guidelines for Americans, updated every five years, influence federal nutrition programs and nutritional messaging for millions of American (though most people don't follow the government's advice). Before USDA and HHS unveiled the final blueprint last week, an advisory group of dietary experts weighed in over the summer and recommended several notable changes to the existing advice:

— The panel proposed changing the definition of "moderate drinking" to just one alcoholic beverage per day for men, down from the previous limit of two. That prompted sharp blowback from the alcohol industry, and the agencies ultimately declined to change the advice.

— USDA and HHS also ignored the advisers' call for stricter limits on added sugars, instead sticking with the Obama administration's advice that individuals get no more than 10 percent of their calories from added sugars. (The advisory committee recommended lowering the limit to 6 percent.)

So what's new? The updated guidelines are the first to include dietary advice for infants, toddlers and pregnant women. They also have a broader theme of encouraging consumers to "make every bite count" by choosing nutrient-rich foods and beverages, with five categories — fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy and protein — accounting for 85 percent of daily calories.

Why it matters: Nearly three in four adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese, and about 60 percent have a diet-related disease. Childhood obesity is also a big problem, with 40 percent of children and teens overweight or obese.

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Around the Agencies

HOW DO YOU UN-RELOCATE AN AGENCY? That's one of the dilemmas facing Biden and Tom Vilsack, his pick for USDA chief, after the Trump administration uprooted the Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture from D.C. to the Midwest in 2019, your host and Pro Ag's Liz Crampton report.

The abrupt move disrupted the agencies' highly regarded work and sparked a brain drain of veteran employees. Addressing the damage to manpower and morale is seen as critical to Biden's broader food, agriculture, trade and climate agenda, especially as the president-elect has talked up the need to expand and rely on agricultural research.

But more than a year since many staff were dispatched to Kansas City, there's virtually no way to hit "undo" and bring everyone back to the Beltway. Many employees have found homes and settled into their new town. And the biggest challenge is replacing those who already left.

"It's hard to pretend it never happened," said former USDA Chief Economist Joseph Glauber, a senior fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. "You've uprooted everyone's lives, you had all these people quit — it's a tough situation."

By the numbers: Agency employees and outside experts say the first order of business should be to rapidly fill open positions, in whichever city makes more sense for each individual job.

USDA needs to hire at least 400 more people to return ERS and NIFA to their staffing levels during the Obama administration, according to a memo prepared for the Biden transition team by experts focused on using government programs to combat climate change.

"Most of us are still struggling," said Laura Dodson, acting vice president of the ERS employees union and an economist at the agency. "New staffers cannot replace all the duties and responsibilities of the former staff. Many of us are overburdened and overworked, and unable to train new staff due to heavy workloads."

Dodson said that it makes sense to have a field office in Kansas City and to give employees more options to work remotely — but that the agency should be centered squarely in the Beltway, where staff can easily collaborate with other research offices and share their work with policymakers.

Silver linings? The pandemic has also proved that remote work can be as effective as gathering in offices. It boosted the staffing process, too, as ERS in particular has benefited from being able to scoop up academics looking for work. While there are still large holes in the agencies' rosters, employees say the hiring process has been more efficient than they expected.

A current USDA spokesperson said the agencies have been filling open positions throughout the pandemic and will "continue a robust hiring pace in 2021."

— "Both ERS and NIFA have engaged with stakeholders near and far to ensure a robust pool of talented individuals are aware of career opportunities available at those agencies," the spokesperson said.

A NEW YEAR MEANS A NEW HUDDLE IS HERE: Huddle, our daily congressional must-read, has a new author! Olivia Beavers took the reins this week, and she has the latest news and whispers from the Speakers' Lobby. Don't miss out, subscribe to our Huddle newsletter, the essential guide to all things Capitol Hill. Subscribe today.

Row Crops

— Black farmers are putting their faith in the Biden administration after decades of struggling for equality in the industry and in terms of access to federal farm programs. While Biden and his advisers have promised to address issues like the loss of millions of acres of farmland owned by Black farmers and discrimination within USDA, there's still skepticism among civil rights groups and other advocates about Vilsack's nomination to lead the department. The former and likely future secretary met with a dozen community-based groups in December to assuage some of their concerns, POLITICO's Ximena Bustillo reports.

— The massive aid payments to farmers and ranchers in 2020 boosted the industry's earnings to record levels. But Congress and the Trump administration are continuing to flood producers with taxpayer dollars even as the farm economy looks to be in much better shape than early last year, now that supply chain disruptions have largely been resolved and commodity prices are on the rise. NPR has more.

— Major players in the farm industry are betting that climate-friendly agricultural practices will be increasingly profitable, as the federal government moves toward offering more incentives for producers to capture carbon in their farmlands and forests. Agribusinesses and startups have their eye on carbon credit markets that would enable retailers, foodmakers and other companies to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. The Wall Street Journal has the story.

— The Mexican government's decision to ban genetically modified corn is facing backlash from Mexico's major agriculture lobby, even as the decision last week was hailed by organic growers as good news for small farmers. The nation will revoke permits for the release of GMO corn seeds and refrain from issuing new permits, and it als plans to phase out imports of such crops by 2024, Reuters reports.

— Farmworkers in New York won't receive new overtime benefits following an unfavorable state board decision last week. The surprise ruling is a major victory for New York producers who warned that requiring higher pay for laborers could push struggling farm employers past the breaking point. POLITICO New York's Bill Mahoney has the details.

— The number of vegetarians in Brazil has doubled in just six years, fueling the rise of a new plant-based meat industry in a country famous for its meat production (and the carbon footprint of its massive cattle ranching sector). More from The New York Times.

THAT'S ALL FOR MA! Drop us a line: rmccrimmon@politico.com; hbottemiller@politico.com; lcrampton@politico.com; jyearwood@politico.com and pjoshi@politico.com.