Advocacy in Action: Dairy, water, wolves and trade

Dairy order

California Farm Bureau will join Dairy Cares and other agricultural organizations to make public comments on the California State Water Resources Control Board’s updated dairy order to address waste discharge in the Central Valley.

The update came after two months of review and meetings with stakeholders. The order was set to be heard and voted on at the board meeting this week. 

Waters of the U.S.

The American Farm Bureau Federation is backing proposed changes to the federal definition of “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, saying the revisions would provide clearer limits on which waters and private properties fall under federal regulation.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced the supplemental proposal earlier this month, opening a 30-day public comment period following its publication in the Federal Register.

The proposal builds on a 2025 rulemaking aimed at revising the WOTUS definition after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Sackett v. EPA. The new language would narrow the scope of waters subject to federal jurisdiction compared with the agencies’ earlier proposal.

Wolves, beef labeling

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Sept. 4 aimed at changing federal policies that affect ranchers, with a focus on wolf protections, compensation for livestock losses and how beef is labeled.

The order gives federal agencies 90 days to review rules that affect ranchers and recommend changes intended to improve their finances and access to markets. It also directs agencies to work toward lowering grocery prices for consumers.

One of the biggest changes could involve gray wolves and Mexican wolves.

The Interior Department has 90 days to determine whether the two types of wolves have recovered enough to be removed from federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. If the department finds that they have met the recovery standards, it is directed to begin the process of removing or reducing their federal protections.

The order also calls for recommendations to Congress on delisting the wolves and directs the administration to work with states on removing them from state lists of protected species and changing rules governing when wolves can be killed to protect livestock.

The order does not immediately remove the wolves from federal protection. Instead, it starts a review that could lead to those changes.

In addition, the order calls for the Agriculture and Interior departments to review how ranchers’ claims for livestock losses caused by predators are investigated and paid.

The administration said the goal is to make those claims easier to evaluate and process. The agencies are specifically told to consider evidence beyond the presence of bleeding beneath an animal’s skin when determining whether a wolf attack caused a livestock death.

The order also directs the Interior Department to consider changing the rules governing when wolves can be killed.

The goal is to give federal officials more flexibility to respond to immediate threats to people or livestock, including situations in which a particular wolf can be identified as the source of the problem.

The order also puts country-of-origin labeling for beef back on the table. Within 90 days, the Agriculture Department is directed to review whether the federal government has the authority to require beef sold in the United States to carry mandatory country-of-origin labels. The department must also study the economic effects of such a requirement.

After that review, the Agriculture Department could propose new regulations or ask Congress to change the law to require the labels. Trump’s order also tells federal agencies to make sure the changes they pursue benefit consumers through lower food prices when possible.

Trade dispute

Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs last week on roughly $20 billion of U.S. goods, including a range of agricultural and manufactured products, following the U.S. decision to impose 50% tariffs on Canadian goods in several sectors. 

In response, the Trump administration announced plans to ban imports of certain Canadian products, including alcoholic beverages, whey and dairy products, and other commodities. 

The escalation follows a breakdown in negotiations between the countries over the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and other trade challenges, with both sides seemingly growing further apart as the row deepens.

In this edition…

• View full issue
• Vineyard workers feel wine industry pain
• El Niño increases chances of winter storms and floods
• Everyone wins when farms invest in their employees
• New DWR director discusses water resiliency plans
• Irrigation can't shield tomatoes from extreme heat
• Owl study assesses rat management in nut orchards
• What is the best strategy to manage Botryosphaeria?
• Wage-and-hour questions from the field
• Vineyard adaptation to heat an economic balancing act
• Advocacy in Action: Dairy, water, wolves and trade
• Are irrigation jets right for your orchard or vineyard?
• Training aims at preventing heat illness in farmworkers