Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 12/7/18

The department has been off to a slow start issuing major regulations during the Trump administration, but some key rules are starting to shake loose. Among the issues moving forward:

— School lunch rollback: USDA has released a long-awaited final rule to relax some of the nutrition standards that were a major priority during the Obama administration. The rule follows a 2017 pledge that the then-newly named Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue made to give schools more flexibility, but it goes further on rolling back whole-grain standards than had been anticipated. (Low-fat flavored milk is also permanently back on the menu under the rule. Previously, only non-fat flavored milk was permitted.)

— Tariff relief on tap: The second tranche of trade aid is still being worked out. Perdue is "working through the final steps with the president to make that determination," Ibach said at an American Seed Trade Association event in Chicago. USDA is expected to make an announcement by early next week. Pro Ag's Liz Crampton has more.

— GMO labeling imminent: USDA's GMO labeling rule will be released by Jan. 1, Ibach said. USDA's new rule on labeling genetically engineered ingredients will likely line up with FDA's Nutrition Facts compliance schedule, he said. The FDA rule begins to take effect in January 2020.

— Regulatory slowdown: This administration, operating under President Donald Trump's deregulatory executive order, has adopted 

a decidedly slower pace in issuing major regulations, even when it undoes Obama-era rules.
By the numbers: By this point in the Obama administration, USDA had finalized at least a dozen rules that were considered economically significant, according to a historical log at OMB and reviewed by MA. Over the same time frame, USDA has completed five economically significant rules during the Trump administration, OMB records show. Two of those rules were related to the trade-aid program and one was pulling the plug on the Obama-era organic livestock standards.