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— Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says that the U.S. has “flipped the script for American agriculture” at COP28.

— An unlikely but influential GOP alliance is forming on Capitol Hill to push for major farm bill reforms, as lawmakers struggle to negotiate a new reauthorization of the must-pass legislation this Congress.

— Vilsack told reporters he’s optimistic a new Mexican administration will be more open to resolving a heated trade dispute over GMO corn. He raised a possible 2024 meeting among himself and Canada and Mexico officials.

HAPPY MONDAY, DEC. 11. We’re your hosts, Marcia Brown and Meredith Lee Hill. Send your hot tips to [email protected] and [email protected], and follow us at @Morning_Ag.

AGRICULTURE DAY AT COP28: The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization released the first part of its roadmap for the food and ag sector to help the world remain below 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, while continuing toward the organization’s goal of ending global hunger. The roadmap outlines 120 actions and milestones for segments of the industry including clean energy, forests, food waste and livestock. This was the first COP with a day dedicated specifically to food issues.

The FAO’s goals include: reducing agriculture’s methane emissions by 25 percent by 2030 relative to 2020, achieve carbon neutrality for agrifood systems by 2035 and turn food systems into a carbon sink by 2050. The roadmap also sets out to eliminate chronic hunger by 2030 and aims for healthy diets for all by 2050.

Reactions: Not everyone thinks the roadmap goes far enough to curtail emissions associated with global food systems.

“This roadmap puts a huge emphasis on incremental improvements to the current industrial food system — but this is a flawed system that is wrecking nature, polluting the environment, and starving millions of people,” said Emile Frison, member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, in a statement. “The next stages of this process will need to go much further in proposing a real transformation of the status quo, by putting much more emphasis on diversification, shorter supply chains and agroecology, and on tackling the massive power inequalities imposed by the handful of companies that define what we grow and eat.”

Patty Fong, program director at the Global Alliance for the Future of Food in a statement, said the proposal failed to set targets for eliminating fossil fuel use, such as in fertilizer, not just adjustments on the margins.

Groups also raised alarm bells about the lack of focus on the livestock sector.

“I’m extremely disappointed that the FAO’s roadmap fails to express the urgency of reducing meat and dairy consumption and production to meet the targets set by the Paris climate agreement,” said Stephanie Feldstein, population and sustainability director at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement.

Role for American ag: The U.S. is now a leader on how to push agriculture toward climate-smart practices, Vilsack told reporters Sunday morning.

“There’s no need for us to be defensive,” said Vilsack, speaking from Dubai at COP28. “We can articulate proactive leadership in the climate space. Leadership that I think is reflected in a number of opportunities for us to showcase what U.S. farmers and ranchers are doing to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate and doing it in a sustainable, substantive way.”

Details: Vilsack emphasized that the U.S.’ efforts to transform American agriculture are based on “incentive-driven and market-based” mechanisms. A big chunk of those incentives are coming from the Inflation Reduction Act, which provided record increases to farm bill conservation programs. Vilsack also said that 136 of 141 of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities have finalized their contracts, a key step to get the $3 billion in the program out the door.

Also at COP28, the Biden administration — through a USDA, FDA and EPA initiative — announced a new initiative to reduce food waste throughout supply chains, MA readers will remember. Food waste contributes significant amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide. This COP has also been a chance for the administration to showcase the work it’s doing to mitigate catastrophic forest fires and manage water resources, Vilsack said.

AIM for Climate: Vilsack announced that the U.S. now has more than 600 partners in its AIM for Climate initiative and $17 billion in commitments, more than double the amount of investments at COP27. The program is a joint effort led by the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates to develop new ways to mitigate agriculture emissions and help food systems adapt to a changing climate — all while addressing global hunger.

Cow burps: When asked if he was hearing about reducing meat consumption as a climate strategy, Vilsack demurred. Livestock contributes around 12 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

“I don’t hear much about that,” said Vilsack. “I did hear about the important role that strategies for methane reduction could play in making the current livestock industry more sustainable.”

He added that people were “reassured” when he told them that there are four strategies in the U.S. for reducing methane production associated with livestock. That includes research on different feeds or feed additives for reducing methane production, capturing methane from animal waste and reusing it for energy, as well as separation equipment, which processes livestock waste back into water and fertilizer.

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NEW DYNAMIC DUO: House GOP hardliner Chip Roy (R-Texas) and longtime Senate Agriculture Committee member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are teaming up to push for hot-button farm bill reforms, Meredith reports.

In a letter shared exclusively with POLITICO, the pair press congressional leaders to pursue a set of farm bill reforms, including reining in spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and reducing subsidies for larger farms while “preserving farm and family safety nets.”

Payment limits: Grassley is a longtime advocate of limiting federal farm subsidies and other aid for the country’s largest farms and agribusinesses, and has been looking to recruit some House Republicans in that fight, he recently told POLITICO.

In teaming up with Roy, a Freedom Caucus member who holds outsized influence over spending and policy battles in the House, Grassley is gaining an influential ally in the push to change farm assistance eligibility — a long-running effort that is opposed by many lawmakers from agriculture-heavy states and districts, especially those in the South.

Foreign farmland: Grassley and Roy also urge congressional leaders to include measures to ban foreign entities from buying up U.S. farmland, a politically charged topic, in the next farm bill.

SNAP: Grassley and Roy call on congressional leaders to make significant changes to SNAP, which they note is the “costliest” part of the farm bill. Nutrition spending accounts for roughly 85 percent of total farm bill spending.

What’s next: Democrats are sure to vehemently oppose Grassley and Roy’s SNAP proposals. Both the House and Senate Agriculture committees are still hammering out farm bill draft text, with the aim of passing the legislative package before a one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill expires at the end of September.

To do so, Congress will likely need to pass and reconcile the new legislation before the 2024 August recess. If they fail to do so, Congress will have to punt the farm bill to the next congressional session that begins in 2025.

CORN POPS: Vilsack also discussed with reporters the latest in a trade dispute with Mexico over the country’s block of American genetically-modified corn for human consumption. The countries are at a stalemate after the U.S. escalated talks to formal dispute settlement proceedings under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Vilsack pointed out that the current Mexican administration leaves office next September and that the leading candidate for president of Mexico is a scientist.

“My hope and belief is that as a result of the new administration is that they will take a look at the science and take a look at the fact that they are reliant on the U.S. for yellow corn,” he said. “And that the relationship with the U.S. is important.”

Vilsack, who met with his Mexican counterparts on the sidelines of COP28, also floated the possibility of a 2024 meeting with Mexican and Canadian ag ministers.

— Scrutiny of the FDA grows as the number of kids with lead poisoning linked to cinnamon in applesauce surges. (The Washington Post)

— A salmonella outbreak linked to cantaloupe has left at least eight people dead. (USA Today)

— McDonald’s is updating their signature burgers. (The Wall Street Journal)

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