Agriculture
PACE has a long history of engaging Members of Congress and federal agencies on legislative, regulatory and compliance issues that make it easier to grow the food, fiber and fuel our nation needs.
More than ever before, Members of Congress hail from urban or suburban districts, where few truly understand the challenges faced by the modern-day farmer. While we maintain strong relationships with the recognized leaders in farm policy, we also excel at educating these less-engaged Members and bringing their support to key policy initiatives.
PACE is engaged in a wide range of agricultural policy issues including the following:
Farm Bill: Our core competencies include farm programs, specialty crops, risk management, forestry and nutrition. We are engaged in specific and high-level dialogue on key provisions, and remain in constant contact with leadership about implementation of the previous farm bill.
Trade and Tariffs: PACE helps clients address market access issues and protect intellectual property in foreign markets. We can help you engage key stakeholder that make-or-break profitability in foreign markets.
Environmental Regulations: Air quality, water quality, chemical use, erodible lands; we have helped our clients navigate regulatory hurdles on these and more.
Select Accomplishments for Clients in the Agriculture Sector:
When regulations for an emergency relief program were issued, PACE immediately recognized a technical drafting error that excluded hundreds of the smallest wineries from participating. Based on our staff’s intimate knowledge of the business structure of these operations, PACE convinced leadership at the Department of Agriculture to change its rules in a matter of months, providing critical financial support for small producers across the country.
In a classic case of Congress not understanding how policies will impact the agriculture sector, the House tax-writing committee proposed mandating use of accrual accounting to raise revenue. This would have forced producers to pay taxes on income they had yet to receive—an impossibility in the low margin business for farming. By mobilizing the leadership in the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, as well as engaging members on the tax committees that represent agricultural districts, PACE successfully removed the provision from subsequent versions of the bill that ultimately became law. The work was so successful that similar offsets have not been proposed in subsequent tax-related legislation.
Client success example in Agriculture policy
- When regulations for an emergency relief program were issued in 2022, PACE immediately recognized a technical drafting error that excluded hundreds of the smallest wineries from participating. Based on our staff’s intimate knowledge of the business structure of these operations, PACE convinced leadership at the Department of Agriculture to change its rules in a matter of months, providing critical financial support for small producers across the country.
