Amid a meat safety issue in Brazil and a trade priorities list from President Trump, some groups are calling for the reconsideration of country-of-origin meat labeling. COOL was repealed by Congress in late 2015 when the World Trade Organization authorized retaliatory measures against the U.S. because of the legislation. But, with a recent scandal in Brazil regarding tainted meat being overlooked and a new trade priorities list from the President, groups such as the National Farmers Union are urging the administration to pursue COOL. NFU is urging the administration to keep COOL on the list and to ensure a reinstatement of COOL would be allowable under any renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mandatory COOL, first passed in 2002 and then again in 2008, required that muscle cuts of meat and some vegetables, nuts and fruits sold at retail must contain a label informing consumers about the country where the product was sourced.

Agriculture Secretary nominee Sonny Perdue appears to have won over the Senate Agriculture Committee and is headed for confirmation by the full Senate, after the committee votes to move Perdue forward. During a confirmation hearing Thursday, Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Democrat Debbie Stabenow announced intentions to vote for the former Georgia Governor to become the next to lead the Department of Agriculture. Much of the hearing focused on what Perdue plans to do as Agriculture Secretary, rather than his qualifications for the job. The hearing came 73 days after President Donald Trump made his final Cabinet selection, being Perdue, a day before Trump’s inauguration. The Committee will hold a separate business meeting to vote on the nomination and has yet to schedule the meeting.

A dozen consumer groups have banded together to work against legislation that would make it more difficult for the government to issue regulations. The groups have dubbed it the “filthy food act,” which they say will make it more difficult to keep the American food supply safe. Politico’s Morning Agriculture Report says the bill is formally known as the Regulatory Accountability Act, clearing the House in January, with the Senate looking at its own version of the legislation. Groups like the Environmental Working Group, the Consumers Union, and others, say they are working to “raise the alarm” across social media platforms this week. The groups sent a letter to Congressional leaders this week saying, “Food safety rules help to reduce the risks posed by pathogens and pesticides. But the ‘Filthy Food Act’ would create an unprecedented regulatory gauntlet through which no food safety rule or guidance could pass.” They also say the act would cut science out of the regulatory process, replacing public input and expert testimony with mountains of reviews and red tape. The groups also point out that the Food Safety and Modernization Act, passed in 2011 and strongly supported by consumer groups and the food industry, would have been much more difficult to push through if the Regulatory Accountability Act was in place.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will release its Prospective Plantings Report on March 31. In the days leading up to it, several organizations are making predictions as to what the report will show. An Ag Web Dot Com article says Met Life Agricultural Finance is the latest to do so. Met Life is predicting that farmers will increase their soybean acres 3.3 percent over last year. If that comes true, it would raise U.S. soybean acres to 87 million. That number is a bit lower than Allendale’s projection of 88.8 million acres and USDA’s Agricultural Outlook Forum prediction of 88 million acres. A Met Life report says, “Cyclically low agricultural commodity prices have led to declining financial conditions in the sector, and planting soybeans requires less working capital than corn and cotton.” As an example, the report cites 2015, when the average per-acre operating costs for soybeans was $171 per acre, compared to $334 for corn and $497 for cotton. Other highlights from the Met Life report include an expectation that farmland values won’t start a recovery until 2019. The report also advises a cautious approach to 2017 because political uncertainty can cause market volatility.

North Carolina native Ray Starling is still new to his role as Special Assistant to the President for Agriculture, Agricultural Trade, and Food Assistance. Starling spoke to Penton Agriculture this week about some of the administration’s key priorities when it comes to agriculture. Some of the biggest priorities include promoting agricultural trade, giving farmers access to a stable workforce, regulation reform, and giving agriculture a seat at the table when new regulations are discussed. Starling says, “We are getting to a period of push comes to shove” on accessing a sufficient workforce for American agriculture. Just how this is going to be set up in future policy development remains to be seen, but he said this is a top-of-mind issue. “On the regulatory reform issue, we want to evaluate the current landscape and make it less onerous,” Starling says. “We want to lessen the cumulative impact of those regulations and provide you a stronger voice in the process to vet future regulations.” He says a voice for agriculture should not only be in place at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but at other agencies as well, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of the Interior, and the Department of Labor.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is designating more than $6 million to help farmers and ranchers affected by recent wildfires in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

The funding announced Tuesday will be distributed through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program to help restore grazing lands, rebuild fencing and protect damaged watersheds.

U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas says he is pleased USDA acted swiftly to aid producers recovering from the largest wildfire in state history.

He says the impacts are devastating for many Kansans because the fires not only consumed livestock, grazing lands and fencing but also in some cases homes, machinery and equipment.

The program is administered by USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Services.

The Senate Agriculture Committee Monday announced the time for Sonny Perdue’s confirmation hearing. Perdue is the last in line for a confirmation hearing, after being the last cabinet nominee announced by then President-elect Donald Trump a day before his inauguration into office. The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold the hearing Thursday at 10 a.m. Eastern. The delay is likely attributed to the delay in announcing and then making the nomination of Perdue to be the next Agriculture Secretary. Following the January 19th announcement, Perdue’s ethics paperwork and FBI background check weren’t finished and forwarded to the Senate Agriculture Committee until earlier this month. Perdue, a former Governor of Georgia, has received widespread support from agricultural trade groups and is expected to receive little resistance from the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Japan and Germany over the weekend announced an agreement to work together on free trade. The announcement follows President Donald Trump’s removal of the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which included Japan. TPP was estimated to be worth $4 billion to U.S. agriculture. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe both called for a free trade deal to be reached quickly between Japan and the European Union. Neither leader mentioned the United States, but Reuters says the move is seen as a positioning away from protectionists trade views demonstrated by President Trump. The comments also follow a meeting of TPP nations last week in Chile focusing on the next chapter of the trade agreement without the United States.