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With help from Doug Palmer

— Shutdowns and slowdowns at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles present a growing problem for U.S. agriculture. It cuts off a critical gateway for U.S. ag goods headed to a prized export destination: The Indo-Pacific.

— The United States and five other ag-exporting nations have accused India of “vastly” underreporting the amount of subsidies that it provides for wheat and rice producers, fueling calls for the Biden administration to take the next step of filing a formal World Trade Organization case.

— Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) on Tuesday will hold a farm bill summit in Virginia.

HAPPY MONDAY, APRIL 10. Welcome to Morning Ag. I’m your host, Garrett Downs. Send tips to [email protected] and @_garrettdowns, and follow us at @Morning_Ag.

PORT TROUBLE: The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach effectively shuttered last week due to a labor shortage, a development that threatens to upend agricultural trade routes at two of the busiest ports in the nation.

The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the marine terminals and ports, blamed the Local 13 chapter of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union for taking “a concerted action to withhold labor at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, resulting in widespread worker shortages.” ILWU, the union representing dockworkers, said its workers remain ready to work.

Context: The ILWU and PMA have been locked in protracted labor contract negotiations, an often contentious process that in recent years has required administration intervention to settle.

The talks and the efficiency of Western ports are especially important for agriculture. They are the fastest gateway to Asia and the Indo-Pacific, one of the biggest markets for U.S. ag goods.

Potential impact: It’s not immediately clear how long work stoppages at the ports will continue. But according to Peter Friedmann, the executive director at the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, “agriculture exporters have been dramatically injured.”

Friedmann said in a press release that ag goods loaded onto rails and trucks “cannot be stopped, and upon arrival the closed terminals will create massive disruption as storage must be found, rental paid for the chassis, trucks, and then additional trucking hired to get the containers back to the terminals, when they reopen.”

East vs. West: The uncertainty is likely to continue the trend of ag shippers redirecting their goods to eastern ports, where there is less risk of disruption. Friedmann said this is not a sufficient alternative, with most western growers not able to make a large enough margin to make up additional shipping costs to the East Coast ports.

“Some agriculture can be sold at sufficient prices to afford to pay for alternative shipping routes, even if more expensive,” Friedmann said. “But most agriculture cannot afford to ship in these lengthy alternative routes.”

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U.S. CHIDES INDIA ON RICE, WHEAT SUBSIDIES: The United States and five other ag-exporting nations have accused India of “vastly” underreporting the amount of subsidies that it provides for wheat and rice producers, fueling calls for the Biden administration to take the next step of filing a formal World Trade Organization case, our Doug Palmer writes for MA.

India is required under World Trade Organization rules to cap its agricultural subsidies at 10 percent of the total value of crop production. That’s double the 5 percent cap that developed countries such as the United States face.

In a “counter-notification” filed last week at the WTO, the United States, Australia, Canada, Paraguay, Thailand and Ukraine said India appears to have regularly provided rice subsidies that exceeded 78 percent of the value of production and wheat subsidies that exceed 65 percent of the value of production.

“It appears that India provides market price support for rice and wheat vastly in excess of what it has reported to the WTO,” the countries said.

Both the U.S. wheat and rice industry have long complained about the trade-distorting effect of India’s public stockholding programs.

“We urge USTR to take all necessary steps to ensure India brings these subsidies into compliance with their WTO commitments,” U.S. Wheat Associates President Vince Peterson said in a statement welcoming the latest counter-notification, the second such notification since 2018.

Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), ranking member on the Senate Agriculture Committee, echoed that call, while also praising U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai for highlighting India’s actions.

“This is further evidence that we need to pursue a formal case against India’s blatant violations with the WTO,” Boozman said.

SPANBERGER’S FARM BILL SUMMIT: Spanberger on Tuesday will hold a farm bill summit in Doswell, Virginia, and MA has the schedule and speaker list.

Why it matters: Spanberger is the ranking member of the House Ag Conservation, Research and Biotechnology Subcommittee, and is seen as a top Democratic dealmaker on the committee as it barrels toward farm bill reauthorization. She was also recently named the most effective Democratic legislator in the House on agriculture issues by the Center for Effective Lawmaking.

The schedule and guest list:

9:30 a.m.: Spanberger will be introduced by Wayne Pryor, president of the Virginia Farm Bureau. She will give an overview of the farm bill and House Ag Committee. Andrew Walmsley, the senior director of government affairs for the American Farm Bureau Federation, will then give a rundown of the current farm economy.

10:15 a.m: Farm Service Agency Administrator Zach Ducheneaux will participate in a session on commodities and crop insurance with several local producers.

11:30 a.m.: A panel on livestock, poultry and dairy with Perry Hickman, the Virginia state director for USDA Rural Development; along with several livestock and seafood industry representatives.

1:30 p.m.: Andrew Berke, the administrator of USDA’s Rural Utilities Service, will participate in a session on rural development, agribusiness, broadband and farm credit.

2:30 p.m.: A panel on research, extension, biotech and conservation. Robert Corley III, interim dean and 1890 extension administrator at Virginia State University’s College of Agriculture; Mike Gutter, director of Virginia Cooperative Extension and associate dean of Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; Jacob Gilley, senior technical livestock and grazing specialist, at the American Farmland Trust; and Adrienne Kotula, Virginia director at the Chesapeake Bay Commission will all participate.

— A bill in the New York statehouse would ban hostile nations from owning farmland in the state, Spectrum News 1 reports. It’s the latest in a growing battle over foreign countries owning U.S. farmland.

— Declan McLoughlin is joining the Irish Embassy as research and administration officer for agriculture and justice. He previously was coordinator of government affairs at the Global Cold Chain Alliance.

— The New York Times’ Jessica Grose explores why we are so fascinated with the way politicians eat, and their snafus throughout the years.

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