Welcome:
James Callan Associates LLC, is a U.S. government relations, coalition building, and public policy
firm achieving results for clients in agricultural biotechnology, crop protection, federal crop
insurance, the Farm Bill, federal appropriations and the budget, taxation, international trade,
U.S. competitiveness, and food regulation by proactively working with Members of Congress,
congressional staff, and executive branch officials. The company, managed and led by
Founder/CEO Jim Callan (see About Us), is located in the Washington, DC area.
Callan works on legislative and regulatory initiatives, several of which have been enacted into law
or into new regulatory standards benefiting an array of agriculture, agribusinesses, food
companies, and organizations as well as producers and consumers. He interacts with the
U.S. Department of Agriculture on trade, crop insurance, and plant protection/biotechnology
matters, with the U.S, Environmental Protection Agency on pesticides matters, and with the U.S.
Trade Representative's office, foreign embassies located in DC, and an array of food and ag
leaders.
He actively participates in the U.S. Food and Trade Ag Dialogue, including the U.S.-Japan Free
Trade Agreement Working Group, with the Washington Ag Roundtable, with the Ag Seniors
Organization, among many other groups and coalitions. Callan also has helped clients obtain
federal funding. His growing influence in DC is reflected in the policy leaders he meets on a
regular basis (note photos under the section "See below for recent activities and updates."
The following are several examples of his work and the results he helped to obtain working directly
for and with clients and a wide array of third-party alliances:
Legislation & Regulation:
2020 - Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was enacted into
law in March 2020. Callan represented several clients before Congress and the Administration,
securing relief funds for spring wheat and durum growers as part of the $23 billion secure for
agriculture.
2019 - Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA): Callan participated and worked with
major corporate and ag association federal government relations representatives on a two-year
campaign to achieve passage and enactment of the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA),
which crop technology companies rely on for the licensing and registration of their products
through EPA and to which they pay substantial user fees. As time was running out on a bipartisan
deal, Callan helped secure passage through personal outreach to key Senators. PRIA was passed
by Congress and signed into law by the President in March 2019.
2018 Farm Bill: On behalf of several clients, Callan worked with producer organizations and
agriculture businesses in securing several provisions in the 2018 Farm Bill ("Agriculture
Improvement Act") passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Trump in
December 2018. Among them: guaranteeing that USDA uses Risk Management Agency (RMA)
data first in its calculations of potential payments to producers under the Agricultural Risk
Coverage program, which would ensure use of the best available acreage data to evaluate
potential payments; provisions for USDA to address concerns over conservation determinations of
minimally impacted acreage that unduly penalize producers; requiring RMA to use previous
reimbursement standards to improve incentives for creating new crop insurance tools; higher loan
guarantees for producers; funding for USDA's Market Access and Foreign Market Development
programs important to American agriculture sales abroad; funding for critical research on the U.S.
Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative; and language ensuring coordination for endangered species
evaluations in crop protection reviews among White House offices, USDA, EPA, and the U.S.
Department of Commerce.
Regulatory Reset: Working with a broad coalition of U.S. agriculture, crop protection, and pest
management users, Callan has worked more than 5 years (into 2019) assisting nearly 60
agriculture and food organizations in its communications with the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and federal courts on an essential insecticide used on 50 crops in nearly 100
countries, including numerous uses in the United States. These include a variety of
nutritious crops, commodities, and staples vital to consumers - ranging from apples,
almonds, cherries, and oranges to corn, cotton, and soybeans as well as forests, golf
courses, and plants. He has managed other coalitions throughout his career including
on the 2014 Farm Bill resulting in successful inclusion of provisions on crop insurance
and fumigation important to ag and food.
Enacted: On behalf of a client, Callan participated in numerous meetings with Members of
Congress and congressional staff during a 19-month period ending in mid-July 2016, leading to
enactment of uniform biotech food labeling legislation. On July 29, 2016, President Barack Obama
signed into law The Biotech Labeling Solutions Act of 2016. This followed months of intensive
negotiations in Congress, especially between Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts
(R-KS) and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). With feedback from the Coalition for Safe
Affordable Food, the two Senators developed legislation to address concerns over a patchwork of
state labeling laws detrimental to agricultural technology, producers and consumers. The resulting
compromise bill, S. 2609, passed the House, 306 to 117 on July 14 and the Senate, 63-30 on July
8, with significant bipartisan support. The measure would require USDA to create a mandatory
federal system for labeling foods containing biotechnology-based ingredients and preempt state
laws, while providing marketplace certainty and continued availability of food products across state
lines. The measure superseded a House bill passed in July 2015, which also was approved on a
bipartisan vote, with that bill's key difference being it would establish a voluntary labeling program.
Major U.S. federal agencies (noted below) along with the National Academy of Sciences and the
World Health Organization agree that biotech-based foods and ingredients are safe for human
consumption. These technologies have significantly improved crop yields for food, fiber, fuel and
everyday uses within a sustainable framework. Further, the potential for growing crops in drought
stricken regions and fighting blindness from nutrition deficiencies are among the many
biotechnology benefits on the horizon.
The federal law was in response to a misguided Vermont state law that threatened the nation's
food supply and was expected to increase consumer costs. The Act also would require USDA to
develop, in coordination with other federal agencies, a science-based education and outreach
effort for consumers and a mandatory report to Congress on the availability of information. More
than 1100 food, agriculture and agri-business companies and organizations wrote the Congress in
support of the legislation, representing a wide and diverse cross section of U.S. businesses and
agricultural companies, farmers, food providers, lenders, processors, retailers and technology
developers. Link to letter:
Enacted: On May 20, 2016 President Obama signed into law the bipartisan Miscellaneous Tariff
Bill (MTB), sponsored by House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX-8) and
co-sponsored by 61 House Republicans and Democrats, granting tariff relief to U.S. companies
importing non-controversial components that aid in American manufacturing and increase business
These inputs are non-controversial if they are not produced in the United States. Since MTB's
expiration in 2012 the tax increases on U.S. businesses have been pegged at $748 million with an
estimated loss to the economy of $1.857 billion, according to a study by the National Association
of Manufacturers. The bill, H.R. 4923, the American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of 2016,
passed the U.S. House on April 27, 2016 by a vote of 415 to 2, while the Senate passed the
measure on May 10, 2016, by unanimous consent. Callan assisted a client in communicating
with House and Senate offices to support the MTB legislation.
Enacted: An amendment that Callan helped secure in the 2014 Farm Bill, enacted on February 7,
2014, would protect the food supply from pests. The amendment, supported by the Sulfuryl
Fluoride Agricultural Coalition -- a diverse group of major agriculture and food organizations -- and
that was drafted by EPA with wide bipartisan congressional support, was included in the new Farm
Bill after a three-year campaign Callan helped lead and manage. Sulfuryl flouride (SF) protects a
wide range of agricultural products and stored food throughout the United States, including cocoa,
corn, rice, various milled grains, dry foods, prunes, almonds, walnuts, pasta, peanuts, and cotton
seed used for a variety of purposes including livestock feed. The fumigant received a
Stratospheric Ozone Award from EPA, but the agency proposed removing the chemistry for uses
because of lawsuit threats from anti-fluoride groups. The amendment would preserve SF, thereby
protecting our food supply and consumers.
Enacted: Callan also successfully led a nearly three-year effort working with corn grower groups
on a crop insurance amendment included in the new Farm Bill that will ensure producers with
unmarketable, low-test weight corn damaged by cold weather will have their crop adjusted to
market conditions. It would also help maintain program integrity, and is similar to a proposal
previously made by the USDA's Office of Inspector General. He worked closely with corn leaders,
Congress, and the Risk Management Agency. Management Agency
Regulatory Approval: In 2014, Callan helped secure major corn and soybean seed product
approvals in agricultural biotechnology and their accompanying herbicides, following a
comprehensive multi-year effort working successfully with the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Federal Funding: In Fiscal Year 2015, Callan helped to obtain federal funding for a client
involving a biodiesel project working with USDA's Rural Development Agency. During Fiscal Year
2014, he organized efforts leading to the successful funding of a risk management education
partnership with USDA's Risk Management Agency, focusing on farm-level management for
growers in the northern plains of the United States. To find out more details, please contact Mr.
Callan directly: jamescallan@msn.com
Media Interviews:
-- Callan interview on June 18, 2020, with Carah Hart of Red River Valley Network’s "Agriculture
Today" discussing future congressional action on U.S. agriculture funding. Interview begins at
8:50: https://www.rrfn.com/podcast/2020/06/18/agriculture-today-557/
-- My interview, June 8, 2020, with Mick Kjar of Ag Central Radio Network, located in Fargo, ND,
on some of the latest happenings in Washington, DC regarding federal agriculture policy:
https://www.agnews890.com/episode/06-08-20-weekly-visit-on-north-dakota-corn-with-nd-corn-council-
washington-lobbyist-james-callan/
-- Callan, who formerly managed a national crop protection association, was interviewed by Pest
Control Technology Online on the "vital food and agricultural fumigant, sulfuryl fluoride," during the
National Pest Management Association's Legislative Day involving Members of Congress.
Interview: http://www.pctonline.com/Callan-protect-food-usessulfuryl-flouride.aspx
-- As the Washington, D.C. government relations consultant with the most federal experience in
federal crop insurance, a program he previously helped to lead, Callan discusses revenue
insurance and the Farm Bill in a farm broadcast television interview: "Provisions in the stalled
Farm Bill would have provided farmers and ranchers more security through revised crop insurance
programs." Interview: http://bcove.me.bny9iio
Presentations & Published Articles:
Callan regularly presents to Boards of Directors of various agriculture groups and coalitions,
providing updates on congressional and administration policymaking and new information on
developments affecting ag and food, especially from 2018 to 2020.
On February 3, 2016, Callan presented to 400 producers in Fargo, ND on "Farm Legislation In An
Election Year." To receive a free copy of this power point presentation, contact Callan directly
at: jamescallan@msn.com
For the World Bank AgriFin publication, Callan authored a piece on the federal crop insurance
program in the context of the Farm Bill and the program's overall operations and costs:
https://agrifinfacility.org/us-federal-crop-insurance-program
Further information:
Email: jamescallan@msn.com or jamescallan1@gmail.com
Background: James Callan Associates LLC represents corporations and associations before
Congress and the Administration, consults with investment management firms on federal policies,
and manages outreach and contacts with the U.S. government. Interacting with a wide network
of Washington, DC policy and business officials, Callan's firm analyzes current and expected
legislation, builds and manages coalitions, identifies and reports on trends, brings clients and their
priorities before policymakers, and develops creative and straightforward ways to achieve client
goals. Callan has senior-level leadership experience in the federal government and private sector.
He also serves as a part-time faculty member at The George Washington University's School of
Business in Washington, DC:
http://business.gwu.edu/careercenter/undergraduate/undergraduate-career-management-strategy-course-
badm-3001/
Approaches: Navigating complicated programs and knowing whom to contact can be a challenge
along with getting your voice heard before decision makers. Working closely with clients James
Callan Associates LLC identifies and implements strategic approaches to amplify your voice in
Washington by reaching the important decision makers on Capitol Hill, in federal agencies, and in
the Administration. The firm works closely with coalitions and third parties, conducts detailed
analysis, and provides reports that you can use with your members, customers, and boards in
building and strengthening your own relationships.
Clients include: Corporations and associations, and investment management companies.
