GMO Labeling Laws Considered This Week

Farmland

The U.S. Senate is meeting up March 1st to consider Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Pat Roberts biotechnology labeling solutions markup.
Farm groups are lining up behind this legislation they think will head off a thread of patchwork GMO labeling laws. That is laws from multiple states legislating labels.

In July, Vermont will be the first state to impose a mandatory labeling of foods that have GMOs.
Farm groups and senate backers think legislation like that will create market chaos and higher food costs.
On March 3rd, the Senate Ag Committee will then mark up the labeling bill.

Roberts released the draft last week, but it's unsure if there will be enough votes on the Democrat side. According to the draft, the Senate bill would require USDA to set a voluntary national food labeling standard for genetically engineered foods, preempt state labeling laws on both GMO foods and seed, and require USDA to provide consumers with information on the benefits of biotechnology.

Roberts says he is open to amendments to the bill. He hopes that will stop the labeling law in Vermont from going into effect.

Commodities are keeping with the down trend at the end of last week, starting off this week mostly in the red. Here is insight from a market analyst.

"The market tried to rally overnight on some short covering and some deliveries that were smaller than what people thought on the grain."

"But reality hit the market here mid-session coming under pressure. It's a hangover effect from the negative outlook report the USDA report put out last week. Combined ending stocks bottom line corn, beans, and wheat are the largest since 1987. So, it's just the reality. Large supplies and trying to reach the demand base that we can increase our exports. So far, we're not at that level."

"The cattle market's finding some stability from cash cattle last week. Really traded a whole range 135-137. So it's the strength of the cash market that's giving us a little bit of support."

"The hog market continues to just run in place. Packer margins are tightening up a little bit so a slower cash market. Overall, the pork market has been flat the last several weeks. The market starting to look forward to the inventory report in March. Expect that to show a slight increase in the breeding herd and again just an awful lot of meat that we have to chew through literally in 2016."

Federal regulators in Canada and the U.S. announced new ways they hope to reduce the phosphorus levels of Lake Erie. The two countries environmental administrations hope to reduce the levels by 40 percent by minimizing the extent of low oxygen "dead zones" in the central basin.

The E.P.A. says targets would then maintain algae growth at consistent levels. The U.S. committed in 2012 to combat growing threats of toxic algae development in Lake Erie by no later than February of 2018.