A bill on the birds and the bees

QUICK FIX

— New York lawmakers agreed to ban the sale of neonicotinoid-coated seeds. Should Gov. Kathy Hochul sign the bill, it would make New York the first state to ban the popular insecticide.

— House Republicans are trying a new approach to cracking down on farmland sales to China: A massive excise tax.

— Russia again threatened to quit the Black Sea grain deal over alleged barriers to its exports.

HAPPY MONDAY, June 12. Welcome to Morning Ag. I’m your host Garrett Downs. Send tips to [email protected] and @_garrettdowns, and follow us at @Morning_Ag.

Driving the day

PROTECTING THE BIRDS AND THE BEES: New York State lawmakers passed a first-in-the-nation ban on certain uses of neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides related to nicotine that can harm pollinators.

The bill’s supporters, who have been pushing the measure for years, say it will reduce neonic exposure in the state by 80 to 90 percent. It now heads to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) desk for a signature.

Need to know: Neonics are a popular and highly effective insecticide typically found in coated seeds, reducing the need for airborne application of other insecticides. They are systemic insecticides, meaning they are taken up into the plant’s physiology and provide protection for long periods of time.

But they have critics, especially among advocates for the environment and health. Specifically, critics say neonics are highly toxic to non-target pollinators like birds and bees — hence the bill’s name, the Birds and Bees Protection Act.

The bill would ban the sale of neonic-coated corn, soybean and wheat seeds as well as lawn and garden uses.

Supporters are buzzing: Bill sponsor state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan) called the bill’s passage a “landmark victory for our pollinators, economy, and farming industry.”

“The Birds and the Bees Protection Act is the first-in-the-nation to limit neonic coated seeds, which contaminate our soil, our waterways, and our bodies,” said Dan Raichel, acting director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s pollinator initiative. “We thank Senator Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember [Deborah] Glick for their leadership in advancing the bill’s commonsense and much-needed protections for New York’s birds, bees, water, and people.”

Ag is stung: The bill was passed over the objections of agriculture interests.

The New York Farm Bureau last month led a coalition of opponents in urging lawmakers to reject the proposal, saying it “moves counter to New York’s broader climate and sustainability goals under the New York Climate Action Council.” The groups say restricting the use of neonics will force farmers to use less environmentally friendly means of pest control, like increased tillage and airborne application of alternative pesticides.

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CHINA ON THE BRAIN

HOUSE GOP TARGETS FOREIGN FARMLAND: House Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee proposed clobbering foreign entities “of concern” purchasing U.S. farmland with an up to 60 percent excise tax.

The move is the latest in a push to ban U.S. adversaries like China from purchasing U.S. farmland, a focal point for China hawks. China is estimated to hold a stake in less than 1 percent of U.S. farmland — about 384,000 acres.

What countries would be affected: The tax would hit buyers from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela.

The tax would apply when the buyer is a citizen of a country of concern or a private business entity that is 10 percent or more owned by a citizen or business entity domiciled in a country of concern. It could be prorated for companies owned less than 50 percent by a country of concern parent-entity.

What else is in the bill: The package would roll back several clean energy tax credits introduced in the Inflation Reduction Act. It would, however, leave intact biofuel tax credits that spurred a midwestern GOP revolt when Republican leadership attempted to cut them in the debt ceiling package.

What they’re saying: “U.S. adversaries are attempting to secure access to agricultural products by quietly acquiring U.S. farmland. China’s reported holdings of farmland are said to be 384,000 acres and that acreage has grown by more than 50 percent since 2019,” the House Ways and Means GOP said in an accompanying statement with the bill.

Ways and Means ranking member Richard Neal (D-Mass.) slammed the GOP proposal for its corporate tax cuts and clean energy rollbacks.

“[W]hile Americans are sheltering inside to avoid the fallout of climate-spurred wildfires, Republicans think now is a good time to repeal the largest climate investment in our history to pay for their corporate handouts,” Neal said in a statement.

What’s next: The Ways and Means Committee will debate the bill on Tuesday.

Ukraine

GRAIN DEAL ON THE ROPES: Russia could quit a hard-fought grain deal as early as next month if its export conditions don’t improve, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin warned on Saturday, according to the TASS news agency, our Federica Di Sario reports.

“We cannot be satisfied with how this memorandum is being implemented,” Vershinin told the Russian media outlet. “Barriers to our exports remain.”

Vershinin’s remarks came just a day after a meeting with U.S. officials in Geneva to discuss the grain deal.

Due to their role in ensuring global food security, Russian food and fertilizers have escaped Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine. But the Kremlin is arguing that difficulties in terms of payment, insurance and logistics are making it harder to export them.

Last month, the agreement was extended by two months, meaning that, if diplomatic efforts fall short, from July 17 on ships passing through the Bosphorus to collect cargoes from Ukraine’s southern ports and deliver them to world markets will no longer be safe.

The agreement was struck in July last year by Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the U.N. Russia’s ambassador to Turkey made clear on Friday that there was no room to extend the deal, Reuters reported.

According to TASS figures, since the deal was put in place, nearly 40 percent of the entire supply was exported to Western Europe, with Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal amounting to the largest importers.

Row Crops

— Much of USDA’s conservation funding is directed toward large, industrial-scale agriculture companies, Inside Climate News reports.

—California agriculture is the problem and the solution for the west’s water woes, NPR reports.

— New York City residents may soon have to separate their food waste from their other waste, The New York Times reports.

THAT’S ALL FOR MA! Drop us a line: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].

A message from League of Conservation Voters:

The climate crisis has already begun impacting America’s farmers and ranchers – threatening their future, the health of rural communities, and our food security.

Fortunately, we have established agricultural programs that benefit farmers and help us fight the climate crisis at the same time.

USDA’s voluntary and incentive-based conservation programs give farmers the technical and financial resources they need to adopt practices that build soil health, reduce emissions, and make their lands resilient for future generations.

These programs are so popular that demand far outpaces funding, leaving thousands of willing farmers unable to take advantage of these climate solutions.

That’s why the $20 billion Congress invested in these conservation programs as part of last year’s IRA is so important, and why that funding must be maintained as Congress negotiates the Farm Bill.

Congress made a promise – it’s time to follow through, help farmers, and make American agriculture climate-smart.

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Garrett Downs is a food and agriculture reporter for POLITICO.

Garrett previously worked for Agri-Pulse Communications, where he covered Congress. He broke news on efforts to overhaul ocean shipping laws, tracked early movers and shakers in the lead-up to the 2023 farm bill and scoured the halls of the Capitol to dig up ag scoops for Agri-Pulse’s daily newsletter, Daybreak. He has also covered international trade policy and agricultural trade at Inside U.S. Trade.

Garrett previously worked with POLITICO as an intern on the New York team. Covering Albany from Maine during the pandemic, he tracked the odds of gambling legalization, scrutinized state energy policy and broke a story on progressive state legislators planning for the downfall of then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the app Clubhouse.

While in college at St. John’s University, Garrett worked as a copy kid at the New York Post. Though his day job was manning the copy machine, he found his way onto the streets of NYC searching for stories. His first scoop on sticky-fingered costumed characters led to a spiderman in handcuffs.

Garrett was raised in the seacoast region of New Hampshire. Though he did not grow up on a farm, his first job was selling sweetcorn out of a pickup on the side of the White Mountain Highway.