Leadership of the Senate Agriculture Committee indicated there would be no additional money to spend in the next farm bill while touting the cost savings from the most recent farm bill. During a farm bill field hearing in Michigan over the weekend, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts said: “The reality is we are going to have to do more with less.” Farm groups have said there should be additional resources for the next farm bill and the House Agriculture Committee has said there should be “budget flexibility” to develop the next bill, according to the Hagstrom Report. Roberts noted that “times are tough in farm country,” while mentioning the credit situation and commodity prices, along with overregulation burdens. Despite his sympathy for farmers and ranchers, Roberts said during the hearing that the federal debt totals $19 trillion, adding “we can’t go on like this.” In an opening statement, Ranking Democrat Debbie Stabenow noted that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the 2014 farm bill will save $80 billion more than expected and that 500 groups have said there should be no additional cuts.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue over the weekend continued his outreach to the Midwest as he completed his second week on the job. The former Georgia Governor met with farmers in Iowa Friday, then toured flooded-out areas of Arkansas over the weekend. Perdue was slated to give his first major farm policy speech in Iowa Friday. But, noting that his staff had written him a 17-page speech, Perdue asked the crowd, “Would you rather have me do that or talk from my heart?” His message was similar to the message he delivered to farmers a week prior in Kansas City, Missouri. He did pledge support for the Renewable Fuel Standard and beef exports. While touring flooded areas of Arkansas on Sunday, the Agriculture Secretary said: “We’ll do everything in our power” to help farmers impacted by the flooding.

With Canada seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 megatons by 2030, the U.S. ethanol industry is eager to help Canada reach the goal. The U.S. Grains Council says the U.S. ethanol industry last month visited Canada to tout U.S. ethanol. The industry also commented on the proposed Canadian Clean Fuel Standard. Canada has an existing national blending mandate of five percent in place and is already an important market for U.S. ethanol exports, thanks in part to the North American Free Trade Agreement. One-third of all U.S. ethanol exports are destined for Canada, making it the top export market for U.S. ethanol for the past four marketing years. Doubling the national blending mandate to 10 percent, as the U.S. ethanol industry is suggesting, however, would provide additional opportunities for U.S. ethanol export sales.

A bill introduced last week in the U.S. Senate would give farm workers a path to legal status and citizenship. California Senators, Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, introduced the legislation last week that would shield farmworkers who are in the country illegally from deportation and create a path to citizenship, according to the L.A. Times. Feinstein says “farm labor is performed almost exclusively by undocumented immigrants,” adding there aren’t enough workers in her state. The bill is also backed by senators from Colorado, Vermont and Hawaii, but there’s been no broad talk in Congress of reforming immigration laws this year. The legislation would allow undocumented farmworkers who have worked in agriculture for at least 100 days in each of the previous two years to earn a “blue card,” which would allow them to work legally. They would eventually be eligible for a green card or legal permanent residency, which opens the door to earning citizenship.

Seven of the largest school districts in the United States will not relax school meal standards that Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced changes to last week. Seven school districts organized as the Urban School Food Alliance — New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Miami-Dade County Florida, Orange County of Orlando, Florida, and Broward County of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, — will continue to reduce sodium levels, increase the percentage of whole-grain rich foods to 100 percent and serve only nonfat flavored milk rather than one percent flavored milk, according to the Hagstrom Report. The schools have a combined enrollment of 3.1 million students and spend more than $590 million a year on food and food supplies. The schools joined to tell food companies that they wanted, for example, antibiotic-free chicken and lunch trays that could be composted.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation says pork and beef exports posted strong first quarter results this year, reaching a new record volume for pork. Pork exports reached 227,000 metric tons in March, up 16 percent year-over-year and topping the previous monthly high set in November 2016. Export value was $586.6 million, up 22 percent. For the first quarter, pork exports were up 17 percent in volume and 22 percent in value. Beef exports totaled 105,000 metric tons in March, up 18 percent year-over-year, with value increasing 22 percent to $588.2 million. First-quarter beef exports were up 15 percent in volume at 292,000 metric tons and 19 percent in value at $1.61 billion. USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng stated in response to the export numbers: “The U.S. is not just moving more meat internationally because we have more available. Our products are commanding solid prices and winning back market share in many key destinations.”

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced Thursday that the first shipment of fresh U.S. beef has arrived in Brazil following a 13-year hiatus. The entrance of American beef into the Brazilian market ushers in promising long-term economic opportunity for U.S. beef producers, according to Perdue, who says: “I look forward to Brazilians getting the opportunity to eat delicious American beef, because once they taste it, they’ll want more of it.” Brazil closed its market to imports of U.S. fresh beef in 2003 over concerns about bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. Since then, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service have worked continuously with Brazilian officials to regain market access. Brazil officially reopened the market on August 1, 2016, based on the United States’ classification by the World Organization for Animal Health as a negligible risk country for BSE.

The National Farmers Union is calling on the U.S. Senate to reject the House-passed American Health Care Act. NFU says the act will cause millions of Americans to lose their health insurance, lessen protections for those with preexisting conditions, and adversely affect family farmers and rural Americans. NFU President Roger Johnson expressed disappointed in House passage of the bill, saying many of the issues from the original legislation opposed by NFU in March still exist in the bill. Those issues include caps to Medicaid, and basing subsidies on age. Johnson says: “House leadership has made the legislation worse by providing even fewer protections for family farmers and rural Americans.” The recent MacArthur amendment to the bill, which allows states to apply for waivers to parts of the law, would be “particularly detrimental to individuals with preexisting conditions,” according to Jonson. He says the National Farmers Union priority for any health care bill is that “it offers coverage for more people rather than fewer.”