U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the final rule for meat, poultry, and egg products that carry a “Product of the USA” label at the National Farmers Union’s annual convention in Phoenix on Monday. As previously proposed, the label will be voluntary, but any company that uses it will have to maintain documentation to prove… Read More
Tag: Tom Vilsack
USDA secretary Tom Vilsack gave an address at Commodity Classic on Friday, where he touched on several important issues for the United States’s ag sector; however, key details on some policies were not part of the speech. While many were disappointed that the final rules around the GREET model for ethanol’s qualification for Sustainable Aviation… Read More
A dispute panel convened to settle U.S. concerns over how Canada handled its dairy tariff rate quotas (TRQs) under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA/USMCA) has ruled that Canada is not obligated to make further changes, following an earlier ruling in December 2021 that Canada’s handling of TRQs was “inconsistent” with the trade deal. The ruling, made… Read More
Canada has quietly joined a coalition of countries promoting “sustainable productivity growth” in agriculture. The Sustainable Productivity Growth Coalition for Food Security and Resource Conservation, known as the SPG Coalition, was first championed by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the UN Food Systems Summit in September 2021. The coalition’s stated goal is to “accelerate… Read More
The Canadian government has not yet decided how it will respond to an invitation to join a U.S.-led coalition of countries promoting “sustainable productivity growth” in agriculture. The productivity-focused coalition championed by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the UN Food System Summit in September is seen as countering the European Union’s Farm to Fork… Read More
Much of the oxygen surrounding agriculture in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement has been used on dairy, but expect wheat to gain increased attention in the coming weeks if some U.S. farm groups get their way. Newly reappointed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has mentioned USMCA enforcement and wheat several times in recent speeches, and… Read More
It appears the Biden and Trudeau governments are seeing many issues through a similar lense so far, especially when it comes to fighting climate change, enabling diversity, and a belief in science. Tuesday morning, Canadian Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food Marie-Claude Bibeau and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack met virtually, to discuss the importance of the… Read More
Not only is Tom Vilsack set to return as U.S. secretary of agriculture, he’s also open to bringing back U.S. country-of-origin labelling (COOL) for beef and pork; but only if it doesn’t lead to retaliation from trading partners, such as Canada, under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Vilsack, who was ag secretary when the Obama… Read More
What is old is new again, as former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is headed back to the post he held for eight years under the Obama administration. The Biden-Harris transition team formally announced the former ag secretary and Iowa governor’s nomination to the agriculture position in cabinet on Thursday. Former Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry… Read More
U.S. dairy groups are accusing Canada of making it difficult for U.S. dairy exporters to take advantage of the full market access negotiated in the new North American trade deal, which takes effect on July 1. The Canadian government published the fine print on how the allocation of its tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) will work under… Read More