Washington Insider -- Monday

WSJ Crowns Superfoods

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

Senate Appropriators Continue Struggle with Fiscal 2015 Spending Measures

The Senate Appropriations Committee last week approved a $549.3 billion spending bill for the Department of Defense, an action that brings to eight the number of fiscal 2015 bills so far approved by the panel this summer. That leaves committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., with just four more to complete.

Unfortunately, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has not yet been able to get even one spending bill to the floor for a vote, and his prospects don't appear to be much better in the two weeks remaining before the August recess. Reid reportedly plans to spend floor time debating the president's request for a $5.7 billion supplemental appropriation needed to meet needs related to the huge influx of Central American children across the U.S. southern border.

For her part, Mikulski hasn't said much about how she plans to proceed with the remaining four bills, although a number of senators reportedly anticipate that they will be heading into the August recess without taking action on any of them. That appears to set the stage once again for what has become a routine appropriations scramble in September as senators attempt to do in just a few days what they have been unable or unwilling to do over the past several months.

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Republicans Want TPA Vote Before Vote on TPP

Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee are threatening to withhold support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact unless Congress first passes fast-track trade promotion authority (TPA) for the president.

In a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, the GOP panel members say Congress would not approve the TPP that currently is being negotiated among 12 Pacific Rim nations if TPA legislation did not meet lawmakers' goals. TPA allows lawmakers to set priorities for trade deals and means Congress in return is limited to a yes or no vote with no amendments allowed.

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The letter is important because the Ways and Means Committee has jurisdiction over the nation's trade policies, and Republicans control the House and the committee. All 23 Republican members signed the letter.

The administration has not shown a willingness to push for TPA at this stage as several Democratic lawmakers have come out in opposition to TPA unless certain areas like labor issues are allowed to be covered. Given this lack of push by the administration, action on TPA is not expected under after the mid-term elections in November at the earliest.

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Washington Insider: WSJ Crowns Superfoods

One might expect the romantics who write for the New York Times food sections to swoon at new food fads no matter how obscure the products turn out to be, but it is especially interesting when the gimlet-eyed folk at the Wall Street Journal wax enthusiastic about an obscure new product. As it turns out, the Journal recently was caught observing, if not expounding the virtues of "superfoods." It notes Quinoa is a titan of the category, which it says is a loosely defined collection of produce that advocates claim have extraordinary nutritional benefits, whether it be high levels of antioxidants or omega-3s. Quinoa is lauded for its protein, fiber, iron and other minerals.

The Journal is entranced by the economics of it all –– especially, the way the newest superfoods have exploded in popularity, changing eating habits and shaking up food companies. The group includes basics long part of the American diet, like blueberries, collard greens and avocados –– (remember oats?) –– but also exotic newcomers like quinoa, chia seeds, açaí berries and amaranth. Amazon.com lists more than 700 books with "superfood" in the title, including "Superfoods for Dummies."

This is all somewhat mysterious, the Journal says –– especially since no individual or single group spawned these foods' current esteem. Instead, they owe their success to a mélange of curious consumers, nutrition pundits, cooking gurus and food companies zealous to exploit the newest trends.

Quinoa also has gotten a boost from the gluten-free boom of the last decade. Though technically not a grain, its seeds can be served like rice or made into flour for pasta. U.S. imports of quinoa –– grown mainly in the Andes mountains of South America –– soared to 14.2 million pounds last year from 1.6 million pounds in 2007. Its price more than doubled in that time, to $7.56 a pound from about $3.50.

At least some of the momentum behind the superfood trend, the Journal speculates, has been the growth of "natural "markets like Whole Foods Markets — which went from one store in 1980 to 357 U.S. stores as of April–– which have helped propel the trend by making such foods more visible and available.

Health experts generally say that most superfoods are relatively nutritious, but some dietitians say the designation is more about marketing than nourishment, according to the Journal. And some in Congress and elsewhere have raised concerns about the marketing of supplements billed as superfoods, especially when they are touted for things like fending off cancer.

"I have mixed feeling about superfoods. On one hand they are good for you, but they get a lot of buzz because we want to have something to talk about," said Kerri-Ann Jennings, a registered dietitian in Burlington, Vt. Superfoods often command higher prices than humdrum items like barley and frozen broccoli, she said, but those items are "going to be way better for your diet than buying açaí berries and sprinkling them on your sugar-laden cereal."

Quinoa, a staple of Andean diets for several thousand years, got its first real introduction into the United States when Ancient Harvest was founded in 1983 and began importing it and promoting it for its high protein content and culinary versatility. It also benefitted when ConAgra, one of the biggest food producers in the United States, in 2007 launched a line of products called Ancient Grains that featured quinoa. Mehmet Oz, the television health pundit known as Dr. Oz, endorsed quinoa. So did the United Nations, whose Food and Agriculture Organization declared 2013 the "international year of quinoa," promoting its attributes for fighting world hunger.

Like many of the more obscure superfoods, quinoa isn't native to the United States where efforts at large-scale cultivation of it have struggled. Most quinoa still is grown in Bolivia and Peru, but, rising exports mean locals now have to pay higher prices for one of their basic foods, an effect the FAO apparently did not consider.

Juan Luis Reus, chief executive of Peru's Trade, Tourism and Investment office in Washington, D.C., notes that increased tax revenue from growing quinoa sales abroad helps pay for infrastructure and other communal goods. But if demand keeps surging and exports grow, "that could be a concern," he said

It will be interesting to see whether the skeptical treatment by the Journal and other mainline media has any effect on the food-faddists' demand for superfoods or their willingness to pay much higher prices than for conventional products. The repeating superfood phenomena do raise questions about the image of nutrition-conscious consumers and their endless pursuit of information –– and, their "right to know."

These pursuits, it seems, readily give way to media blitzes and plain old marketing campaigns in many cases, Washington Insider believes.


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