— Kamala Harris is leaning into promises to fight price gouging by corporations. Hill progressives hope that means she’s open to unleashing executive powers to address high food prices.

— Lawmakers are siding with the Federal Trade Commission in its legal bid to stop the $25 billion merger of Kroger and Albertsons.

— An updated cost estimate of the House Ag Committee’s farm bill prompted more partisan squabbling, with time running out for any new reauthorization this year.

IT’S MONDAY, AUG. 5. Welcome to Morning Agriculture! We’re your hosts Meredith Lee Hill and Grace Yarrow. Happy National Farmers Market Week! Send tips to [email protected] and [email protected] and follow us at @Morning_Ag.

HARRIS’ FOOD PRICE FIGHT: Democrats on Capitol Hill are eager for Vice President Kamala Harris to focus on fighting high food prices in her campaign. And progressives are highly encouraged by recent comments the presumptive Democratic nominee made on the campaign trail as a sign she might do just that, your host reports.

Harris told a packed campaign rally in Atlanta last week that she would “take on price gouging and bring down costs” on “Day One” of her presidency.

That got the attention of progressives, who hope the vice president will be more willing than President Joe Biden to wield executive power to squeeze corporations they argue have been inflating the price of groceries and other everyday goods.

Key election issue: Those cost-of-living issues continue to be a focal point of the 2024 campaign, one many Democrats fear could drag them down in November unless they come up with a more aggressive response.

As president, Biden has promised to crack down on price gouging and so-called shrinkflation, but has so far resisted progressives’ latest call to unleash a suite of executive actions targeting food retailers and others.

While Harris has mostly echoed White House talking points on the economy, her rhetoric in recent weeks has made progressive Democrats hopeful that she could break with Biden on the matter.

“I love that,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said of Harris’ recent focus on corporate price gouging. “I honestly think that Democrats should have been talking about grocery prices for the last six months.”

GOP attacks: Harris is now set to face a barrage of GOP attack ads and other critiques seeking to blame her for higher grocery and everyday costs. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and GOP senators are already decrying “Harris price hikes,” in an effort to tie her directly to inflation and increased federal spending under Biden’s administration.

Republicans also argue high food costs and inflation are already baked into voters’ views of the Biden-Harris administration and how they plan to vote in November.

Down-ballot Democrats, many of whom worried President Joe Biden didn’t acknowledge the pain of inflation soon enough, are encouraging Harris to get ahead of the coming onslaught. Their concerns were only heightened after new economic data released last Friday showed a surprising jump in unemployment that’s now fueling talk of a possible recession.

‘Reading tea leaves’: Biden officials privately expect Harris to take the lead on more official economic and other policy rollouts that could boost her in the coming weeks, especially any focused on lowering costs.

But the White House isn’t currently working on any big price gouging policy moves that she could tout on the campaign trail, according to two people familiar with the plans, who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Huffman and progressives across Capitol Hill are hopeful Harrs’ campaign rhetoric translates into even stiffer measures to crack down on everything from big food corporations to Big Oil. But that group noted they’re “reading tea leaves” at this point.