Policy
Each state has a unique set of provisions in the individual state statutes, so it’s important to know what your state’s may or may not provide.
The on-again, off-again reports regarding ICE raids is sowing confusion for those who rely on immigrant labor and causing labor shortages because employees aren’t showing up for work.
The Senate and House each have their own Committee proposals for President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. There are some key differences in each that could impact farmers and ranchers.
As the Adverse Effect Wage Rate continues to climb year after year for the H-2A guestworker program with little clarity on how the USDA calculates the rates, organizations are saying, “enough is enough.”
The move would increase biomass-based diesel requirements, from 3.35 billion gallons in 2025 to 5.61 billion gallons in 2026, supporting American row-crop growers in the process.
“The 1980s farm crisis didn’t just damage balance sheets. It’s changed the interest of being involved in agriculture. That gap is being realized today in board rooms, field offices, agronomy teams and more,” said Aaron Locker, Managing Director, Kincannon & Reed.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announces plans to reopen Moore Air Base in Texas as a New World screwworm sterile fly distribution facility. Long-term production is anticipated to be 300 million sterile flies per week.
“The carbon markets are maturing. The next phase is product-based carbon programs,” says Thad England, director of U.S. strategic accounts with Groundwork BioAg.
Mitch Hora, CEO of Continuum Ag says at first glance the Senate language on 45Z looks more favorable than the House.
After a week of ICE seemingly targeting dairy farms, California produce farms and a meat packing plant in Nebraska, President Donald Trump is reportedly ordering the Department of Homeland Security to exclude farms from immigration raids.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed record blending mandates for biomass based diesel in the Renewable Fuels Standard.
The Office of Management and Budget is currently holding stakeholder meetings on the mandated biofuels blending levels. However, EPA is also considering the backlog of Small Refinery Exemptions.
The Nebraska was the “largest worksite enforcement operation” in the state during the Trump presidency, the Homeland Security Department said. U.S. Congressman Don Bacon told local media 75-80 people were detained.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says one of the challenges the U.S. is dealing with is trying to negotiate agreements with 18 of its biggest trading partners simultaneously. Grassley would like to see a dialed-back strategy used instead.
While the 1,000-page bill includes spending increases for agriculture-facing programs by $56.6 billion over the next decade, there’s one major priority that didn’t make it into the House’s version.
Another Chinese researcher has been detained by federal agents for unlawfully shipping roundworms into the U.S. for work she planned to conduct at a University of Michigan laboratory
A 25-page criminal complaint alleges the researcher and her boyfriend were attempting to bring Fusarium graminearum into the country. The fungus causes significant diseases in a number of food crops, including corn, wheat, barley, soybeans and rice. Toxins from the fungus are harmful to humans and livestock.
The third round of disaster aid payments through the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program is the largest amount appropriated by Congress. USDA Deputy Undersecretary Brooke Appleton says those payments are being prepared now.
Emergency Livestock Relief Program payments will be automatically distributed to eligible producers to cover grazing losses due to drought or wildfire events in 2023 and/or 2024.
A federal court ruled Wednesday that an emergency law does not provide President Trump with unilateral authority to impose tariffs on nearly every country. The interruption was short-lived after a federal appeals court granted the Trump administration’s request to temporarily pause a lower-court ruling.
The commission now has about 80 days to create a strategy for how the federal government should respond to the report findings, per President Trump’s original order in February.
Recent rumors put volumes for biomass-based diesel at 4.65 billion gallons, but Paul Winters, director of public affairs, Clean Fuel Alliance America, says EPA has assured them that number is false.
USDA’s Brooke Rollins and more than 300 farm groups went to bat for agriculture leading up to the report’s release on Thursday. Yet farmers were excluded from having a voice at the table in the development process. That needs to change before the next report – which will provide policy recommendations – is issued within the next 80 days.
Many farm organizations say the 68-page document released on Thursday is filled with “fear-based rather than science-based information about pesticides,” positioning that will sow seeds of distrust with the American public.
A chief concern is whether glyphosate will be targeted by the report, which is expected to be unveiled on Thursday. A number of farmers have voiced concerns collectively and individually this week.
Top of the list: Reforming the FSA loan program, regulatory action to disincentivize federal funding for solar panels on productive farmland and expanding permitting of unused or underused federal land for long-term leases.
The massive bill faced two major hurdles, passing out of both the House Agriculture and House Ways and Means Committees. While the legislation is filled with positive tax provisions for farmers, potential cuts to SNAP are creating controversy.
“China and Brazil are getting together. They’re going to build infrastructure, and they’re going to make SAF and they’re going to build railroads, and it’s not good for us and our future. That’s why we need new markets,” says Iowa farmer Tim Burrack.
Due to the northward spread of New World Screwworm, a month-by-month suspension is effective immediately and will continue until a significant window of containment is achieved.
The deal decreases U.K.’s ethanol tariff from 19% to 0%, creates an opportunity for cattle ranchers to export millions more and opens a $100 million market with free access for rice farmers, says Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture.