| The government shutdown will go into a second week. Senators rejected another opportunity Friday to reopen agencies and are now out of session until Monday, when leadership is expected to force a fifth vote on a House-passed proposal to fund the government through Nov. 21. With that reality- here are the protocols that are being followed at the US Department of Agriculture: OVERVIEW OF FEDERAL SHUTDOWN PROTOCOLS for the US Department of Agriculture: **Please note this information may be subject to change** U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service Beef Quality and Yield Grading: Beef grading will continue uninterrupted as this activity is funded by user-fees. Cattle Contract Library Pilot Program: Updates to the Cattle Contract Library will continue. Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR)/Mandatory Price Reporting: Market news information, as required for commodities and agricultural markets, will continue. Research and Promotion Oversight (Checkoff): Checkoff programming will continue uninterrupted as appropriated dollars are not used in their implementation. Packers & Stockyards Division: Will cease operations during a lapse. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service General: Many APHIS activities are funded fully by annual appropriations and will halt during the shutdown. That includes sections of the cattle health program (ex. animal disease traceability), chronic wasting disease activities, and the ongoing review and approval of biologics at USDA APHIS Center for Veterinary Biologics. New World Screwworm: Emergency efforts to combat the New World screwworm outbreak in Mexico will continue uninterrupted. Animal Diseases: Emergency efforts to combat HPAI, African swine fever, and bovine TB will continue uninterrupted. Inspections: Import/export processes, animal quarantine inspections, and phytosanitary certifications are all funded by user fees and will continue uninterrupted. Cooperative Agreements: USDA APHIS guidance states that reimbursable agreements with states and other cooperators will continue, funded by user fees. Wildlife Services: Wildlife Services is not specifically named in USDA’s updated shutdown guidance. Based on other portions of the document, it is possible that any wildlife damage management projects that are conducted as reimbursable cooperative agreements will continue uninterrupted. Beyond that, we must assume that agency activities will halt. Producers should take extra care to thoroughly document, with writing/photos/videos, any depredation losses in case investigations are interrupted or delayed. Farm Service Agency Staffing: On day 1-10 of a shutdown, the only FSA staff on call will be minimal regional leadership and headquarters staff, in case of a natural disaster. From day 10 onwards, if the shutdown continues, each FSA service center will be required to have one farm loan employee and/or one county office farm program employee on call to complete certain loan processing items to protect the security interest of the government and to prevent the loss of security or loss of value to security for the borrower. Loan Actions That Will Continue: From day 10 onwards, staff will be able to continue liens, process protective advances, and review a borrower’s account to gather the necessary information to respond to a bankruptcy notification. Loan Actions That Will Halt: Accepting and processing farm and commodity loans (even if harvest-related), advancing funds on approved loans, obligating loans previously approved, loan closings and issuing guarantee loan conditional commitments, issuing direct loan approval notification letters, and processing any new applications will halt during the shutdown. Disaster Assistance: Implementation and processing of weather-related disaster assistance payments – including any remaining Supplemental Disaster Assistance programs like ELRP 2023 and 2024 for Flood and Wildfire – will halt during a shutdown. Land Management/Conservation: Processing of annual CRP contract payments will halt during a shutdown, as well as any technical assistance and cost-sharing related to rehabilitating agricultural land after a natural disaster. ARC/PLC: Implementation of the adjustment to ARC/PLC base acres authorized by H.R. 1 will halt during a shutdown. Food Safety and Inspection Service Processing Plants: All statutorily required inspections in meat processing plants will continue uninterrupted during a shutdown. That includes inspections of beef for domestic consumption, for export, and ongoing testing/surveillance programs for foodborne pathogens.Food Safety: FSIS will also continue uninterrupted with activities necessary to protect the public from foodborne illness, including epidemiological investigations, related lab work, and recalls.State MPIs: FSIS currently shares costs with 29 states for their State Meat and Poultry Inspection programs. While federal FSIS inspectors will continue their work in plants, it is not clear whether the agency will continue providing funding to the State MPIs during a shutdown. It is possible that some state inspection activities may be interrupted if states do not cover their full program costs. Agricultural Research Service US Meat Animal Research Center: Any work needed to protect animal life, “provide animal care,” complete the collection/preservation/analysis of time-sensitive data related to animal research, and prevent harmful or unnecessarily long experimental protocols related to animal research will continue uninterrupted during a shutdown. That applies to USDA staff as well as contractors, provided contractors are directly implementing/addressing one of the goals above.NBAF: The “continuous stand-up” to achieve full functionality/readiness at NBAF will continue uninterrupted during a shutdown.Animal Diseases: Current research related to New World screwworm and HPAI will continue uninterrupted during a shutdown. Forest Service General: Approximately 12,000 employees out of 32,000 will be furloughed. The agency will pause non-essential functions.Recreation: Public access to recreation sites will be reduced.Grazing: Special Use Permits processing will be delayed, if SUPs exist outside existing grazing authorizations.Fire: The agency will continue responding to and preparing for wildland fires. Hazardous Fuels Treatments to reduce fire risk, including prescribed fire, will be reduced. State Grants for Forest Management and Wildland Fire Preparedness may be delayed. State and local fire departments’ ability to train firefighters and acquire necessary equipment may be delayed and states and other cooperators will not receive reimbursement for ongoing forest management work on non-federal lands. National Agricultural Statistics Service General: Most activities will cease. Nearly all employees will be furloughed except for those necessary to perform activities implied by law. Risk Management Agency General: Limited activities will continue for a period of approximately 180 days in the event of a shutdown. RMA would use mandatory program integrity funds in the amount of $10M that can be transferred to S&E and used to fund staffing. Agency Compliance and oversight activities; Regional Office engagement; and new product development would largely cease in the event of a shutdown. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION General: Producers should expect significant delays in dealings with the CFTC for the duration of the shutdown. Roughly 5% of the Agency’s workforce will remain at work to handle essential work, including several whistleblower and market participant personnel. The CFTC will focus its attentions on enforcement actions. |
