February 4, 2025

Agricultural Law Weekly Review—February 4, 2025

National Agricultural Policy: Temporary Restraining Order Issued Against Federal Funding Pause After Memo Rescission 🌾
On January 27, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued memorandum M-25-13 directing “Federal agencies [to] . . . temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance . . . including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.” The next day, on January 28, two separate complaints were filed seeking an injunction against the memorandum: one filed by several interest groups in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and one filed by twenty-two state attorneys general in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. National Council of Nonprofits v. OMB, No. 1:25-cv-00239; New York v. Trump, No. 1:25-cv-00039. That same day, on January 28, the D.C. District Court issued an order granting a temporary administrative stay of the memorandum until February 3, 2025, but on January 29, OMB issued memorandum M-25-14 rescinding memorandum M-25-13 and then filed motions in both cases alleging that the plaintiffs’ claims were moot (Dist. D.C.; Dist. R.I.). On February 3, the D.C. District Court issued a memorandum opinion and order granting a temporary restraining order (TRO) against implementation of M-25-13 and ordering OMB to “provide written notice of the [TRO] to all agencies to which . . . M-25-13 was addressed,” including “instruct[ing] those agencies to release any disbursements on open awards that were paused due to . . . M-25-13.” Additionally, the court declined to “convert th[e] proceeding into one for a preliminary injunction (rather than a TRO),” removing the opportunity for OMB to immediately appeal the TRO. According to the order, “Defendants shall file a status report on or before February 7, 2025, apprising the court of the status of its compliance . . . including by providing a copy of the written notice described above.”

Avian Influenza: PDA Confirms HPAI in Lehigh County Commercial Poultry Flock
On January 27, 2025, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) announced the agency’s confirmation of the “first positive case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in domestic poultry in Pennsylvania in 2025,” located in a “50,000-bird layer chicken flock on a commercial poultry farm In Lehigh County.” According to the announcement, samples from the farm “have been shipped to a USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory for confirmation” and PDA “has quarantined the farm and all commercial poultry facilities, restricting the movement of poultry products within a 10-kilometer radius of the infected flock.” PDA states that “no infections in dairy cattle or humans have been detected in Pennsylvania to date” and that the current situation poses “no risk to the general public,” although the agency notes that “HPAI is highly infectious and is generally fatal to domestic birds.” Additionally, the announcement includes a HPAI map illustrating the implemented control and surveillance zones.

Avian Influenza: H5N9 Confirmed in California in Duck Farm
On January 29, 2025, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) announced that the agency had confirmed the presence of H5N9—“a different, additional strain of bird flu” than H5N1—in a commercial duck flock in Merced County (also published by UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine). CDFA states that the “finding is not unexpected or alarming since ducks serve as a reservoir host for influenza A viruses and there is evidence that the H5N9 virus is a North American N9 reassortant of the H5N1 virus that has been seen in wild birds since 2022 with periodic spillover into domestic flocks.” According to the announcement, CDFA reported the finding to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), which also reported the virus confirmation on January 31, 2025.

 

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Podcasts:

Farmland Legal Energy Podcast

The Inflation Reduction Act and Agriculture

An Introduction to Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land

Dust Pollution in Rural Pennsylvania

Introduction to Precision Agriculture

Resources of Interest:

Ohio St. Univ. Ext. Farm Off. Blog, Principles of Government: Tariffs, Robert Moore (Jan. 30, 2025)

Ohio St. Univ. Ext. Farm Off. Blog, What Might be the Impact on Agriculture of Tariffs on Canadian and Mexican Imports?, Peggy Kirk Hall (Jan. 28, 2025)

Univ. Md. Risk Mgmt. Educ. Blog, USDA Finalized Three Rules Amending the Packers and Stockyards Act Under the Biden Administration, Nicole Cook (Jan. 28, 2025)

Nat’l Agric. Law Ctr., States Introduce Pesticide Liability Limitation Bills in 2025 Legislative Session, Brigit Rollins (Jan. 28, 2025)

STATE ACTIONS—EXECUTIVE & LEGISLATIVE

PENNSYLVANIA EXECUTIVE AGENCIES

(Pa. Bulletin Vol. 55, No. 5—Feb. 1, 2025): 

Department of Environmental Protection

55 Pa.B. 1080 Notice: “The Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law And The Federal Clean Water Act Applications For National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permits And Water Quality Management (WQM) Permits Under The Clean Streams Law And Federal Clean Water Act”

55 Pa.B. 1168 Notice: “Bid Opportunity”

PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE

HB 436 “An Act amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in riot, disorderly conduct and related offenses, further providing for prohibition of ownership of certain animals.” Referred to AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS (Jan. 31, 2025)

HB 426 “An Act providing for duties of Commonwealth agencies regarding native plants and for duties of Department of Conservation and Natural Resources regarding pollinator habitats and native plants.” Referred to ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE PROTECTION. (Jan. 31, 2025)

HB 441 “An Act amending the act of June 23, 1982 (P.L.597, No.170), known as the Wild Resource Conservation Act, further providing for legislative finding and declaration of policy and for definitions; and providing for wild native terrestrial invertebrate management.” Referred to ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE PROTECTION. (Jan. 31, 2025)

SR 19 “A Resolution recognizing the week of February 15 through 22, 2025, as “National FFA Week” in Pennsylvania.” Referred to RULES AND EXECUTIVE NOMINATIONS (Jan. 31, 2025)

HB 324 “An Act amending the act of April 6, 1956 (1955 P.L.1429, No.466), referred to as the Poultry Technician Licensure Law, further providing for collection of samples, for technician requirements, for licensure, for powers and duties of Secretary of Agriculture and for blood sample restrictions.” Re-committed to APPROPRIATIONS (Jan. 29, 2025)

HB 77 “An Act amending Title 3 (Agriculture) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in food protection, further providing for definitions, providing for food allergy awareness and further providing for powers of department.” Laid on the table (Jan. 28, 2025)

FEDERAL ACTIONS—EXECUTIVE & LEGISLATIVE

U.S. ENVIROMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Trump EPA Updates Public on Agency Assistance Following Catastrophic Wildfires (Jan. 28, 2025)

EPA and City of Springfield, Illinois, Reach Agreement on Coal Ash (Jan. 27, 2025)

U.S DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (USDA) PRESS RELEASES

Cattle and Bison Imports from Mexico Resume Under New Protocol (Feb. 1, 2025)

USDA Announces Approval of D-SNAP for California Disaster Areas (Jan. 29, 2025)

Don’t Run Out the Clock on Food Safety this Super Bowl (Jan. 27, 2025)

USDA AGENCY PRESS RELEASES:

Agricultural Research Service

No Waste Left Behind: Insect Frass Can Improve Soil Fertility (Jan. 29, 2025)

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Cattle and Bison Imports from Mexico Resume Under New Protocol (Feb. 1, 2025)

Economic Research Service

Animal Welfare and Treatment Label Claims in U.S. Table Eggs: Trends in Retail Premiums and Policy Impacts, 2008–18 (Jan. 30, 2025)

Trends and Patterns of Job Quality in the United States (Jan. 28, 2025)

Food and Nutrition Service

USDA Announces Approval of D-SNAP for California Disaster Areas (Jan. 29, 2025)

Food Safety and Inspection Service 

Constituent Update – January 31, 2025 (Jan. 31, 2025)

Foreign Agriculture Service

USDA Trade Mission to Expand Exports in Thailand, Southeast Asia (Jan. 27, 2025)

National Agricultural Statistics Service

United States cattle inventory down 1% (Jan. 31, 2025)

Natural Resource Conservation Service

NRCS Field Offices: Help Shape the Future of Conservation Through NRI Data Collection (Jan. 29, 2025)

FEDERAL EXECUTIVE AGENCIES (Federal Register—Jan. 27–31, 2025):    

Agricultural Marketing Service

90 FR 8367 Final Rule—Delay of Effective Date: “Section 8e Import Inspection Fee Structure” (Jan. 29, 2025)

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

90 FR 8253 Final Rule—Postponement of Regulations: “Horse Protection Amendments; Postponement of Regulations” (Jan. 28, 2025)

National Agricultural Statistics Service

90 FR 8514 Notice—Comment Period: “Notice of Intent To Request Revision and Extension of a Currently Approved Information Collection” (Jan. 30, 2025)

90 FR 8513 Notice—Comment Period: “Notice of Intent To Request To Reinstate an Information Collection” (Jan. 30, 2025)

Rural Housing Service

90 FR 8367 Final Rule—Delay of Effective Date: “Multifamily Housing Program Update to the Credit Report Process” (Jan. 29, 2025)

Environmental Protection Agency

90 FR 8713 Notice—Comment Period: “Six Actions Published by the Environmental Protection Agency With Comment Periods That Closed January 27, 2025, and January 29, 2025; Reopening of Comment Periods” (Jan. 31, 2025)

90 FR 8715 Notice: “Environmental Impact Statements; Notice of Availability” (Jan. 31, 2025)

90 FR 8254 Final Rule—Delay of Effective Dates: “Delay of Effective Date for 4 Final Regulations Published by the Environmental Protection Agency Between November 29, 2024, and December 31, 2024” (Jan. 28, 2025)

U.S. HOUSE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE: 

H.R.836 “Emergency Wildfire Fighting Technology Act of 2025” Referred to the Committees on Natural Resources and Agriculture (Jan. 31, 2025)

H.R.813 “To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to prohibit the use of supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits to purchase soda.” Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. (Jan. 28, 2025)

H.R.793 “To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to repeal the limitation on the maximum deduction for shelter expenses allowable for determination of benefits under such Act.” Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. (Jan. 28, 2025)

H.R.775 “To ensure that there is no net gain in Federal land ownership in any fiscal year, and for other purposes.” Referred to the Committees on Natural Resources and Agriculture (Jan. 28, 2025)

H.R.774 “To limit the ability of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to penalize an owner of livestock for grazing by such livestock on certain Federal lands on which grazing is permitted on or after the date of enactment of this Act and subsequently prohibited, and for other purposes.” Referred to the Committees on Natural Resources and Agriculture (Jan. 28, 2025)

H.R.773 “To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to improve the calculation and reduce the taxpayer cost of payment errors under the supplemental nutrition assistance program, and for other purposes.” Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. (Jan. 28, 2025)

H.R.471 “Fix Our Forests Act” Received in the Senate. (Jan. 28, 2025)

U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY:  

S.349 “A bill to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to permit removal of trees around electrical lines on National Forest System land without conducting a timber sale, and for other purposes.” Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. (Jan. 30, 2025)

S.J.Res.9 “A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission relating to “Commission Guidance Regarding the Listing of Voluntary Carbon Credit Derivative Contracts”.” Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. (Jan. 30, 2025)

S.319 “A bill to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to review the Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program, and for other programs.” Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. (Jan. 29, 2025)

S.302 “A bill to amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to improve the calculation and reduce the taxpayer cost of payment errors under the supplemental nutrition assistance program, and for other purposes.” Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. (Jan. 29, 2025)

S.277 “A bill to release a Federal reversionary interest and convey mineral interests in Chester County, Tennessee, and for other purposes.” Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. (Jan. 28, 2025)

 

Contributors:
Audry Thompson—Staff Attorney
Riley Amdor—Research Assistant
Victoria Dutterer—Research Assistant