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— The FDA is investigating potential links between grain-free pet foods and heart disease in dogs. One corner of the agriculture industry says the probe is killing its business.
— A new ag-focused trade deal with Japan could leave U.S. dairy farmers at a disadvantage to competitors including the EU and members of the new 11-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, according to dairy-state Democrats.
— Chinese negotiators canceled a planned tour of American farmlands following trade talks last week, but they’re still on track for high-level meetings in October. The Trump administration has been pressing Beijing to ramp up its purchases of U.S. agricultural goods.
HAPPY MONDAY, SEPT. 23! Welcome to Morning Ag, where we probably won’t be ordering airplane coffee anymore. Send your tips to rmccrimmon@politico.com and @ryanmccrimmon, and follow us @Morning_Ag.
FDA PET-FOOD PROBE HITS PULSE GROWERS: The agency last year launched an investigation into whether certain pet foods with a high concentration of peas, lentils and other so-called pulse crops might be causing canine dilated cardiomyopathy, or DCM. That’s turning out to be a big problem for farmers who grow those legumes, your host reports this a.m.
Pulse growers were already facing major trade headwinds, like steep tariffs imposed by India and China, and a drop in wholesale commodity prices. Now the FDA is exacerbating those problems by issuing public warnings and scaring some dog owners away from grain-free products. That means pet food manufacturers are buying fewer ingredients like peas, lentils and garbanzo beans, and pulse farmers are seeing one of their biggest domestic markets start to shrink.
Tim McGreevy, CEO of the U.S. Dry Peas and Lentils Council, said the financial impact is becoming clear as growers try to renew contracts with buyers. “People are saying, ‘Wait and see. We’re not sure if we’re going to buy the amount of product that we have in the past,’” McGreevy said in an interview last month. “Usually we have these contracts locked in. Our harvest is happening today, and there’s just a lot of wait-and-see.”
Lawmakers from major pulse states are putting their own pressure on the FDA. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) sent a letter complaining that the agency “issued an unsubstantiated warning that was taken as fact by many pet owners,” dealing a “sharp blow” to farmers. He said the agency needs to “clarify the limitations” in its initial findings.
An FDA spokesperson said the agency “believes that the potential association between diet and DCM in dogs is a complex scientific issue that may involve multiple factors,” and officials will continue to provide updates on the investigation.
DEMOCRATS WARN JAPAN DEAL CEMENTS DAIRY’S DISADVANTAGE: Five House Democrats sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer arguing that the new U.S.-Japan deal, expected to be signed soon, doesn’t do enough to help dairy producers grow their footprint in the lucrative Japanese market, Pro Trade’s Megan Cassella reports.
Wisconsin Rep. Ron Kind and other dairy-state Democrats said the agreement “lacks critical protections” for milk producers and would leave the sector at a disadvantage to export competitors who are seeing market access gains under their own trade deals with Tokyo.
President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet Wednesday in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. But trade officials are still working on language related to Trump’s tariff threats for Japanese cars, and few details of the agreement have emerged. In their letter, the Democrats asked Lighthizer how USTR “intends to support our dairy farmers in this agreement.”
CHINESE OFFICIALS FORGO U.S. FARM VISIT: Officials from the Nebraska Agriculture Department and Montana Farm Bureau confirmed that a Chinese trade delegation scrapped its plan to visit farms in those states on Friday, reports Pro Trade’s Doug Palmer. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue had touted the expected visit earlier in the week, raising hopes that China would make additional purchases of U.S. farm goods.
“They know our shopping list and we hope that they come and are prepared,” Perdue told reporters on Thursday. But when the delegation backed out of the farm visit on Friday and returned to China sooner than expected, it was seen as a negative sign for trade talks and even sent the stock market lower.
But, but, but: Sources told The New York Times that the cancellation was due to concern that the farm visit would turn into a media circus and give the impression that China was interfering in U.S. politics.
The official word: The Trump administration released a brief statement after the trade talks wrapped up, saying only that the “discussions were productive” and the U.S. looks forward to a high-level meeting in October. Trump, for his part, said he’s not in any rush to reach a trade deal ahead of the 2020 election, Doug writes.
DEMOCRATS PREPARING USMCA OFFER THIS WEEK: The nine-member USMCA working group this week will send the White House a counteroffer on changes to the three-way trade agreement, after the House Democrats and Lighthizer agreed to accelerate negotiations, per Megan and Pro Trade’s Sabrina Rodriguez.
The two sides met on Friday for the first time since Lighthizer sent a formal proposal detailing how the Trump administration would consider changes to the new NAFTA to address Democrats’ concerns about labor, enforcement, drug pricing and environmental provisions.
“We intend to meet again next week,” said House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.), who is spearheading the working group. “We’ll have a response, and hopefully the ambassador will have a response for us.”
— Climate change will be front and center today at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. But Trump will skip the one-day summit and is threatening to overshadow the broader U.N. climate push, write POLITICO’s Anthony Adragna and Ryan Heath.
— Employees are quitting the Bureau of Land Management due to the relocation of 200 jobs out of Washington. Internal BLM records contradict what Interior Department officials have told Congress about the plan, ProPublica reports.
— Argentina is exporting more than twice as much beef to China compared with 2018 year-to-date. Chinese consumers are turning to additional sources of protein to make up for lower domestic pork production due to the African swine fever outbreak, the Financial Times reports.
— Bayer is engaged in costly legal battles over claims that its weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, but the glyphosate-based herbicide is likely to remain at the top of the agrichemical market because of its popularity among farmers. The New York Times has a deep-dive.
— A proposal to stop offering chocolate milk in New York schools is pitting child health advocates against dairy producers. POLITICO New York has the story.
