Advocacy in Action: Farm assistance, government purchases, WOTUS rule, Brown Act transparency, species protection, nitrogen requirements, New World screwworm and foreign-owned farmland

Farm assistance

With a funding deadline approaching this week, lawmakers in the House and Senate continue to advance spending packages to avoid another government shutdown. Many in the agriculture industry were hopeful the spending packages would include additional economic assistance and a year-round sales authorization of E15, or 15% ethanol fuel blend. 

A coalition including the American Farm Bureau Federation and the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, of which California Farm Bureau is a part, sent a letter this month urging lawmakers to move forward on much-needed support as farmers and ranchers continue to grapple with high input costs and other economic pressures.

California Farm Bureau has been focused on pressuring officials to provide more equitable support for specialty crop programs, which have not seen the same degree of financial assistance as other commodities. A California Farm Bureau “Action Alert” garnered more than 1,200 letters to Capitol Hill within a day. As of last week, both measures were stripped from the most recent House funding package, meaning there is likely more work to be done following the passage of any final deals. 

Government purchases

During her remarks at the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention earlier this month, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to buy $80 million worth of several specialty crops, including $20 million each of pistachios, almonds, grape juice and raisins.

The purchases will be used to direct U.S.-grown or -produced commodities into local and regional nutrition programs and food banks. Additional details of the purchases have not yet been released. California Farm Bureau will share updates as more information becomes available.

WOTUS rule

California Farm Bureau submitted comments this month in general support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed revised “waters of the United States” rule, or WOTUS, which was release last fall. The three objectives of the new rule are to fully implement the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Sackett v. EPA, which narrows the scope of federal protection for certain wetlands and other waters; cut red tape and lower the cost of business; and protect water quality by striking a balance between state and federal authority. 

The proposed rule includes definitions for the terms “relatively permanent,” “continuous surface connection” and “tributary.”

California Farm Bureau also provided oral comments at EPA’s virtual public meeting in December and prepared a Farm Team alert for members to submit comments. 

Brown Act Transparency

California Farm Bureau recently raised concerns to a local groundwater sustainability agency regarding the exclusion of its appointed agricultural member from participating in certain board actions. Because the Brown Act requires full and open participation of all seated board members, the lack of agricultural representation during board decisions may constitute a transparency issue. While this involves one GSA, the issue is broadly relevant because many GSAs rely on agricultural members to provide critical stakeholder input. Farm Bureau will continue to monitor GSA practices to ensure fair and compliant decision making. 

Species protection

The California Fish and Game Commission on Feb. 11-12 is expected to vote on a petition to list the Southern California and Central Coast mountain lion populations as threatened or endangered under the California Endangered Species Act. The commission will evaluate the petition, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s status report and all information in the administrative record to determine whether listing is warranted for the species. Members of the public may participate in person or via webinar or teleconference. 

Nitrogen requirements

The California State Water Resources Control Board’s second statewide agricultural expert panel continues to meet to discuss nitrates leaching to groundwater from irrigated agriculture and possible nitrogen-related regulatory limits on nitrogen application and nitrogen discharge. 

The panel’s recommendations will be compiled into a draft report that will soon be released for a 30-day comment period. The final expert panel meeting is scheduled for March 11. Farmers and ranchers are encouraged to attend and provide public comments on current on-farm nitrogen-related practices. More information can be found at http://waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/agriculture/2025-expert-panel.html.

New World screwworm

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service last week announced the New World screwworm initiative that will allot up to $100 million in support of innovation projects aimed at enhancing sterile fly production, strengthening preparedness and response strategies, and other projects that help safeguard U.S. agriculture. Priority areas include sterile fly production, novel traps and lures, and potential treatments and therapeutics for NWS infection. Interested applicants are encouraged to submit proposals prior to the Feb. 23 deadline. More information can be found at www.aphis.usda.gov/funding/new-world-screwworm-grand-challenge-funding-opportunity.

Foreign-owned farmland

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has launched a new online portal designed to streamline the reporting of transactions involving U.S. agricultural land owned by foreign persons or entities. The portal builds on the Trump administration’s National Farm Security Action Plan, which seeks to strengthen and modernize reporting requirements for foreign-owned agricultural land.

Interest in foreign ownership of U.S. farmland has increased in recent years, as historically inconsistent reporting has raised questions about the accuracy of existing data. Alongside the portal’s launch, USDA released a 2024 summary showing that 3.6% of all privately held agricultural land in the United States is foreign owned.