Washington Insider -- Wednesday

Study Says Students Like Healthier Lunches

Here's a quick monitor of Washington farm and trade policy issues from DTN's well-placed observer.

Organic Production Receives Big Boost in Brazil, Smaller Boost in U.S.

The government of Brazil plans to make nearly $1 billion in incentives available to small- and medium-sized organic food producers as a way of helping meet increased consumer demand. Among other things, the government plans to buy organic food products at guaranteed premium prices from family farmers who hold organic certifications.

Among the other factors driving the decision was a push by Brazil's food retailers –– represented by the Brazilian Association of Supermarkets –– who charged that the government wasn't doing nearly enough to promote organic food

Meanwhile in the United States, USDA has announced that it plans to spend $13 million per year for organic cost-share assistance programs that will pay for up to 75% of a producer's organic certification costs. The department issued a statement touting the fact that the new funding, which is provided by the 2014 farm bill, is up from the roughly $5 million per year authorized by 2008 farm bill.

Domestic sales of organic products were an estimated to be $28.4 billion in 2012, and will reach an estimated $35 billion in 2014, according to the Nutrition Business Journal. If that number is close to being accurate, it justifies USDA's annual $13 million investment in organics.

***

USDA Takes Additional Steps to Rein In PEDv

USDA is following up on its previous requirement that pork producers, veterinarians and diagnostic labs report presumptive or confirmed occurrences of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv) or other swine virus diseases. The goal is to give USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) a better chance of getting a handle on PEDv, a deadly virus that has ravaged hog farms in 31 states, killing an estimated 8 million pigs, or about 10% of the U.S. herd.

APHIS is working to address these infections with a plan that includes: 1) required disease reporting and 2) development of herd management plans that will indicate the producer is taking actions to implement biosecurity steps designed to reduce further dissemination of PEDv.

P[L1] D[0x0] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]

The downturn in hog numbers caused by PEDv has been somewhat offset by hog producers feeding animals to heavier weights, keeping the downturn in pork output less than might otherwise be the case. Falling corn prices also contributed to hog producers feeding animals to heavier weights as they eye lofty hog prices. Consumers meanwhile have seen prices for bacon, ham, and pork chops jump significantly as retail pork prices hit a record $4.10 a pound in May. USDA has forecast that pork prices will jump 3.5% in 2014, after rising just 0.9% last year and 0.3% in 2012

***

Washington Insider: Study Says Students Like Healthier Lunches

Well, the world is full of surprises. Only a few days ago, the Wall Street Journal in its nanny mode excoriated Michelle Obama for playing personal politics on healthy school lunches. She was accused of following her husband's lead into the depths of personal politics. Horrors.

Her fault, the WSJ said, was to push too hard against efforts to weaken school lunch standards imposed in 2012, on the grounds that the new rules were too interventionist and, heaven help us, the kids didn't like the food — a development that shouldn't surprise any parent.

Now, a few days after the Journal's anti-Michelle blast, it seems to be saying, "not so fast," and referring to a new study reveals that the healthier school lunches despised in 2012 are now found to be agreeable among students and staffers.

When the federal government implemented new school-meal regulations in 2012, a majority of elementary-school students complained about them and some schools dropped out of the program. However, by the end of the school year most found the food agreeable, according to survey results released Monday.

The peer-reviewed study comes amid concerns that the regulations led children to waste increasing amounts of food they did not like. Now, however, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago surveyed administrators at more than 500 primary schools about student reaction to the new meals in the 2012-2013 school year. They found that 70% agreed or strongly agreed that students, by the end of the school year, generally liked the new lunches with their inclusion of more whole grains, vegetables and fruits, and lower fat levels.

"We feel like these data support the new meals and show that although change can be slow, there have not been as many student complaints as thought to be," said Lindsey Turner, the lead author of the study, which will be published in the journal Childhood Obesity. The research was supported by a national group called Bridging the Gap that studies polices that improve health, and was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which backs public-health initiatives.

In another study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine this past spring, researchers found that students were eating more fruits and vegetables under the new guidelines.

It is true that the school-meal standards remain contentious in many cases. Some Republicans criticized their calorie limits — the first time the government had imposed such a mandate on school meals — and in 2012 introduced legislation in the House to repeal the requirements. The standards also spurred student-led lunch boycotts in some districts. Participation in the school-meal program declined modestly in recent years, fueling questions about the effects of the regulations on students' eating habits.

"Our big concern is that participation continues to slide," said Diane Pratt-Heavner, spokeswoman for the School Nutrition Association, which represents 55,000 school-nutritional professionals. The group seeks a relaxation of the rules, and says it believes they play a role in the decline in students participating.

However, the new study indicates that schools in which two-thirds or more of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch had higher participation and left less food on their plates than schools with fewer students qualified for the meals. Still, administrators at rural schools reported more student complaints and wasted food, as well as participation drops, as compared with urban or suburban schools, according to the report.

The rules cover the roughly 32 million children who eat school breakfasts, lunches and snacks, according to USDA.

The requirement for healthier school food was a signature push of first lady Michelle Obama. The standards are aimed at reducing childhood obesity and were released in January 2012. Mrs. Obama earlier this month vowed to fight GOP efforts to weaken the rules. House Republicans and the School Nutrition Association are seeking to relax some of the requirements in the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

House Republicans have seen the issue as a winner in this political cycle and are calling for some schools facing financial challenges to get a temporary waiver from the rules. They say the standards have been money losers for some districts. Democrats counter that the schools simply need more time and that many have made a successful transition.

Now, the new information seems to challenge some of the earlier claims. "It takes students a little bit to adjust," said Jessica Donze Black, a child nutrition expert for the Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonprofit that promotes healthy school meals. "A majority of schools are doing well, and we should be able to learn from those schools and move forward with the schools that are still struggling."

A hearing on school nutrition is set for today by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. It will be interesting and important to see if the new data are available for discussion, and how they are interpreted by the lawmakers. The issue and the fights it has generated continue to be important and are unlikely to go away any time soon. However, the new information seems to have the potential to change at least some aspects of the debate, 'Washington Insider believes.


Want to keep up with events in Washington and elsewhere throughout the day? See DTN Top Stories, our frequently updated summary of news developments of interest to producers. You can find DTN Top Stories in DTN Ag News, which is on the Main Menu on classic DTN products, on the News Menu on Farm Dayta, and on the News and Analysis Menu of DTN's newest Professional and Producer products. DTN Top Stories is also on the home page and news home page of online.dtn.com.

If you have questions for DTN Washington Insider, please email edit@telventdtn.com

(CC)

P[] D[728x170] M[320x75] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[L2] D[728x90] M[320x50] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[R1] D[300x250] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[R2] D[300x600] M[320x50] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]