FRUIT

New Dietary Guidelines Move Food Pyramid Closer to the Farm

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 20:43:23 GMT

The White House delivered a simple but clear message to Americans today: Eat real food.

“We are finally putting real food back at the center of the American diet. Real food that nourishes the body, restores health, fuels energy and builds strength,” says Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. “This pivot also leans into the abundant, affordable and healthy food supply already available from America’s incredible farmers and ranchers. By making milk, raising cattle and growing wholesome fruits, vegetables and grains, they hold the key to solving our national health crisis.”

In the “most significant reset of federal nutrition policy in decades,” the White House released the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030 . The updated pyramid inverts the 1992 USDA version by prioritizing:

Protein (1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, an increase from 0.8 grams)
Dairy and healthy fats as the foundation
Vegetables (3 servings per day)
Fruits (2 servings per day)

Unlike the old pyramid’s grain-heavy base and processed carbs, new recommendations limit whole grains to 2 to 4 servings per day and added sugars and highly processed oils should be avoided entirely.

Eat More Protein

Rollins says the previous dietary guidelines demonized protein in favor of carbohydrates.

“These guidelines reflect gold standard science by prioritizing high-quality, nutrient-dense protein foods in every meal,” Rollins says. “This includes a variety of animal sources, including eggs, poultry, seafood, and red meat, in addition to plant-sourced protein foods such as beans, peas, lentils, legumes, nuts, seeds and soy.”

To put the new protein recommendations into perspective, Sigrid Johannes, executive director of government affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, says for folks who should be consuming 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight that’s a 100% increase in recommended daily protein intake.

Dairy’s Seat at the Table

Dairy emerged in a strong position under the new dietary guidelines, with federal nutrition guidance supporting dairy at all fat levels for the first time.

“One of the key messages they’re telling consumers is eat dairy and eat dairy at all fat levels — that’s whole milk, cheese and butter,” says Matt Herrick of the International Dairy Foods Association. He calls it “a significant watershed moment,” reflecting how many families currently eat and shop today.

Echoing Herrick’s perspective, National Milk Producers Federation President and CEO Gregg Doud adds by better recognizing both fat and protein, the guidelines give a fuller picture of dairy’s nutritional value.

“Not all fats are created equal, and because the guidelines acknowledge this, dairy’s benefits are better reflected in this iteration of the guidelines,” Doud says.

When it comes to protein, consumer demand is reshaping the category, with cottage cheese at its highest level since the 1980s because of the high-protein trend, Herrick notes.

“Consumers are looking at labels more than ever and trying to find cleaner, less processed foods. Dairy fits that bill. Most products have just a handful of ingredients, and they’re all high in protein. People are turning to protein for growth, energy and overall health, and we’re going to continue to see consumers look to dairy to fulfill their protein and healthy fats needs,” Herrick says.

The processing sector has grown alongside the rising demand for dairy, reflecting both increased production and changing consumer preferences. Roughly $8 billion has been invested in new processing facilities from 2022 to 2025, with another $11 billion expected through 2028.

“We’re going to continue to see investments in processing facilities — new plants, updated lines and more capacity — to meet growing consumer demand for dairy protein and healthy fats,” Herrick notes.

Eat More Meat and Poultry

When it comes to meat and poultry, Julie Anna Potts, Meat Institute President and CEO, says Secretary Rollins and Secretary Kennedy’s leadership have simplified the dietary guidelines making it clear meat is a protein powerhouse.

“Robust scientific evidence demonstrates that meat is a rich source of high-quality protein, essential vitamins and highly bioavailable minerals that support human health throughout the lifespan,” Potts says.

Kansas beef producer Marisa Kleysteuber describes the new “commonsense” dietary guidelines as “exciting and refreshing.”

“As beef producers we are blessed to work with a ruminant animal that can utilize Mother Nature’s production of cellulose from rain and sunshine and then convert it to one of the most nutrient rich proteins there is,” she says. “Whether the consumer is desiring an organic, grass fed or corn fed beef product, there are cattlemen and women all over the U.S. who put their heart into raising these cattle to produce a nutritious and delicious product that we have always believed in and now our leaders are standing behind the ranchers and farmers of America.”

Quintessentially American foods such as burgers, steaks, pork chops and Easter hams can remain a staple of American households, and the guidelines go so far as to recommend parents introduce nutrient-dense foods, including meat, early and continue focusing on “nutrient-dense foods such as protein foods” throughout childhood.

“America’s pork producers appreciate the 2025 dietary guidelines putting pork front and center on the plate. They took note of producer concerns and rightly gave pork and other high-protein, nutrient-dense and delicious meats their due when it comes to Americans’ health and dietary habits,” says Rob Brenneman , National Pork Producers Council president-elect and pork producer from Washington, Iowa.

Maddie Hokanson , a Minnesota pork producer and mother of two, says the new dietary guidelines’ strong emphasis on protein is a positive for the pork industry. She believes the new guidelines, paired with pork’s quality nutrition and versatility, bring together the perfect opportunity to increase pork consumption and demand in the U.S.

“As pig farmers, we are proud to produce a meat product that is packed with high-quality protein, while also being nutrient-dense with many essential vitamins and minerals,” Hokanson says. “As a parent to young children, I see both the physical and cognitive benefits of prioritizing protein in the diet at all ages, and I’m excited to see what the short- and long-term effects of this recommendation will be.”

Three Servings of Veggies and Two Servings of Fruit

Dairy and meat weren’t the only items at the top of the new dietary pyramid. Fresh fruits and vegetables were also given top billing.

“Diets rich in vegetables and fruits reduce disease risk more effectively than many drugs,” says Robert F Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health.

The new dietary guidelines recommend three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit per day. Like past editions of the dietary guidelines , the new guidelines recommend Americans eat “a variety of colorful, nutrient-dense vegetables and fruits” and advises whole produce items be eaten “in their original form.” Though not explicitly stated, the updated guidelines also call out “frozen, dried, or canned vegetables or fruits with no or very limited added sugars” as good options.

“Today’s dietary guidelines reinforce the critical role fruits and vegetables play in overall health,” says Mollie Van Lieu, International Fresh Produce Association vice president of nutrition and health, in the group’s response. “Scientific evidence consistently shows that fruits and vegetables should make up the majority of what people eat. The Administration’s focus on whole foods is an opportunity to increase fruit and vegetable intake, as they are the most nutrient-dense foods available.”

Rollins Teases Plan to Expand Real Food Retail Accessibility

There was more than the new dietary guidelines announced at the press event. Rollins mentioned upcoming changes at retail she says would increase the accessibility of whole, healthy foods to those in food deserts.

“Soon, USDA will finalize our stocking standards,” she says, explaining retailers that take SNAP benefits are bound by the stocking standards. “Very soon we will be finalizing that rule that will mandate all 250,000 retailers in America to double the type of staple foods they provide for America’s SNAP households. This means healthier options will be in reach for all American families, regardless of circumstance, at levels never seen before in our country.”

Grains and Oilseed Industry Focuses on Positives

In terms of grains, in its guidance USDA recommends Americans “focus on whole grains, while sharply reducing refined carbohydrates.” The National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) shared mixed reactions to the changes.

“We appreciate the continued recognition of whole grains as an essential part of Americans’ diets,” said a spokesperson with NAWG in a statement to Farm Journal. “However, we are concerned that some portions of the new guidelines around grains and wheat are unintentionally confusing. Wheat, wheat flour, and foods made from wheat have been nutrient-rich, life-sustaining staples for tens of thousands of years and deserve clear, continued support as a central part of our nation’s diet.”

The American Soybean Association (ASA) focuses on the positives saying it highlights the importance of increased protein consumption, including plant-based proteins, such as soy-based foods. They also emphasize prioritizing healthy fats, including oils rich in essential fatty acids like soybean oil.

ASA says an addendum continues to call into question the process of soybean oil extraction, which it says is scientifically proven to be safe for human health.

“Soybean oil and soy protein play a critical role in the health and nutrition of Americans,” says Scott Metzger, ASA president and Ohio farmer, in a press release. “We remain deeply concerned by the rhetoric and selectively cited studies regarding the health and safety of soybean oil in DGA supporting material.”

Metzger says soybean growers will continue to work with the administration and educate MAHA commission leadership on the health benefits of soy-based foods and soybean oil.

The National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) echoed those concern: “Vegetable oils, or “seed oils” as they’re sometimes referred to, are a significant provider of essential fatty acids and remain a safe and cost-effective source of dietary fats in the American diet, as they are globally,” said a NOPA press release. “However, some appendices rely on a narrow evidence base with limited citations, which is concerning given the administration’s rhetoric questioning the safety of certain vegetable oils despite an established scientific consensus.”

NOPA also argues oilseeds support the production of affordable meat, dairy and eggs as meal produced from oilseeds are a key component of livestock diets.

Georgia Watermelon Heist Explodes Into Epic Night of Pandemonium

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 12:37:10 GMT

“Son, you roll one more melon down that board and I’m gonna to shoot you.”

The bare-bones warning, delivered over a midnight hum of katydids and crickets, froze young Terry Nunn in mid theft, silhouetted against the glow of a fat Georgia moon. Staring at the double-barrel bores of a shotgun nestled capably in the arms of an old farmer, Nunn, 16, felt his mouth go to cotton.

Still as a statue behind a truck bed half-loaded with giant watermelons, Nunn had been minutes from a flawless, five-fingered heist. Instead, he was cold-busted and on the verge of frontier justice, alongside two confederates. Beyond surrender, the teen had one option: Run like hell.

With the turn of a heel in red dirt, Nunn bolted like a blind man escaping flames, and scrambled into the melon field, leaving behind a hail of blasts, buckshot, burning rubber, and buck-wild bedlam. The scheme descended into epic pandemonium.

“I’m sure not proud of what we did, but I still scratch my head at how crazy it was,” Nunn recalls. “No doubt, the whole deal still sticks close to my heart.”

Welcome to the night the lights almost went out in Georgia.

Black Diamonds
Pocked with a roadmap of dents and scratches, testament to horse hauling and cow wrangling, a 1969 F-100 bounced the backroads of Jackson County, roughly 60 miles northeast of Atlanta, on a sticky August morning with mercury bound for 100 degrees.

Windows rolled down in the green, two-tone truck, the price of a breeze was worth the taste of dust to three teenage boys sweltering in the cab, as Nunn rode passenger window, with his good buddy, Gene, behind the wheel, and lifetime friend, Rocky, wedged in the middle.

“It didn’t take long and we could see exactly where we were going and what we were doing,” Nunn remembers. “Big ole melons laying everywhere.”

(Photo public domain)

Elbow cocked over belt molding, Nunn watched the blur of pastures and woods. It was 1977 in rural Georgia: Young men riding the backroads could easily stray.

“It was almost natural for three teenagers to drift toward trouble in summertime,” explains Nunn, in a voice soaked in Southern honey. “It’s easy to stir up a mess out in the country, especially if you’re bored and ain’t got any money.”

Recounting the past comes natural to the 64-year-old—a master storyteller who paints in color, hangs on detail, and delivers tales on a loop with remarkable recall. Raised hardscrabble, Nunn never lacked for necessity, but he could see poverty from the bottom rung of working class. By 12, he worked full-time; by 14, he drove a tractor-trailer. By 16, “Big T” Nunn was stacked at 6’1”, 220 lb., and could blaze down the gridiron.

And on an otherwise ordinary dog day in 1977, Nunn’s young life almost doglegged as the Ford crossed north into Banks County. Beyond endless stretches of grain fields, the pickup slowed and eased to the shoulder, alongside a 50-acre patch dotted with massive chunks of oblong fruit.

Black Diamond watermelons. Deep, dark green in color, each easily exceeding 50 lb., the picture-book specimens were prime for picking.

Gene swept his finger across the field of dragon eggs, and turned to Rocky and Nunn: Y’all wanna make some money?

Lock, Stock, and Barrel
The plan was straightforward: Return to the field in the witching hour, fill the bed with booty, and sell the haul roadside on the edge of Atlanta the following day. Easy money, honey.

However, the property in the trio’s crosshairs was not easy pickings. By no means.

Months earlier, Nunn had snuck onto the same farm and rustled catfish a stone’s throw from the watermelon patch. He was caught red-handed by the shotgun-toting farmer-owner.

Apparently, the old man never slept.

“He nabbed me and another buddy holding a full 6’-string of fish that didn’t have room to slide another 2-pound channel cat on,” Nunn recollects. “He carried us back to his house and made us clean the fish right in front of him. We put them in gallon jugs, filled the jugs with water, stuck it all in the freezer, and then cleaned up everything. I thought he would call the law, but then he let us go.”

“Out of breath, alone in the dark, I was wishing I’d never have done something this crazy. But most of all, I was scared to death … I knew the old man was coming.”

(Photo courtesy of Cindy Nunn)

Only a few short months after the catfish fiasco, Nunn again was ready to roll the dice. Brimming with confidence, Nunn, Gene, and Rocky drove to a barn owned by Gene’s papaw, and prepared to execute. They padded the truck bed with a thick layer of hay and grabbed a scrap piece of plywood cut lengthways in half to deploy as a loading ramp.

At approximately 11:30 p.m., with temps still clinging tight to the low 80s, the teens rumbled back to Banks County. Gene drove just past the field entrance, turned off his headlights, cut the wheel, and backed down to an 8’ embankment below the melon field. Nunn and Rocky spilled out of the cab’s right side and moved toward the field, decked in standard summer fare: t-shirts, close-cropped jean shorts, and work boots. Gene, strapped in blue jeans and cowboy boots, crawled into the bed, and extended the plywood ramp to the embankment.

A snapshot in time, left to right, proprietor Charlie Brown; Terry Nunn’s father, W.T.; Terry Nunn; Ricky Hill; and Rocky Brown. Photo courtesy of Cindy Nunn

(Photo courtesy of Cindy Nunn)

Nunn and Rocky would cut vines, pick, haul the produce from field to truck, and roll melons down the ramp to Gene for stacking and packing. Lock, stock, and barrel.

Under a moon that wasn’t quite full, but plenty fat, the boys walked into the rows. “Our eyes got adjusted pretty fast. It didn’t take long and we could see exactly where we were going and what we were doing,” Nunn remembers. “Big ole melons laying everywhere.”

“Only problem was, the old man’s house was just a mile from that field.”

Every Man for Himself
Nunn and Rocky knelt and began harvesting. A flick of a Barlow knife, an upward hoist, and the deed was done. Operating in total silence and total darkness, with no risk of flashlight exposure, they carried the hefty melons to the descending ramp for release to Gene.

“You snipped the vine and toted off the melon, keeping the knife between your fingers,” Nunn describes. “We wasn’t playing around. I mean, these were Black Diamonds and we were both good-sized boys, so we toted them in pairs. We’d put’em on the ramp, one at a time, and roll’em down. Gene was stacking them in the bed.”

“I’m sure not proud of what we did, but I still scratch my head at how crazy it was,” Nunn recalls.

(Photo courtesy of Facebook, Miller Farms)

“I’m not sure how much time passed, but we were hard at it and covered an area about a quarter of a football field. By this time, maybe we had 40 or so melons loaded in the bed. It was getting about time to call it a night, but that ain’t what happened. We went back in for a few melons more.”

Cradling two more Black Diamonds under his arms, Nunn marched to the embankment and rolled the first down the plywood plank. He bent over, grabbed the second, and stopped cold. A voice with Old Testament wrath cut the night air.

Son, you roll one more melon down that board and I’m going to shoot you. If you don’t believe me, you just go ahead and roll another one.

Roughly 40’ to Nunn’s left stood the old man, wearing overalls and a crumpled ball hat that looked to have been run over by a tractor several times. Time stopped.

“He had a double-barrel shotgun in the crook of his arm and it looked like it was a part of him. You know how old men lay it in the bend of their arm and it looks natural? It looked like he’d been carrying his gun in that position his whole life,” Nunn exclaims.

“I didn’t have no idea where he’d come from or how he knew we were there. I ain’t got a clue. All I knew was he meant every word about shooting me. Evidently, somebody had been in that melon field before and he was keeping an eye on it because there was no reason for him to come down there at all.”

“The only thing in my favor was that in the dark, the old man didn’t recognize me as being the kid who stole his catfish. That might have saved me from getting shot on the spot.”

Still as a stone, casting his eyes toward the field, Nunn caught a snapshot of Rocky, a sprinter on the high school track team, motoring toward liberty 40 yards into the field, fading into black. He gone.

Shifting his gaze back to the old man, Nunn mustered up a reply: “Yessir. I’m not going to roll another watermelon, and I’m sorry that I did.”

The gun remained level: “We fixin’ to call the law.”

Despite getting the drop on Nunn, the old man made one miscalculation. He assumed Nunn was the driver, i.e., he didn’t realize Gene was squatting in the bed.

“All of a sudden, Gene slipped or shifted in the truck, and the sound kinda startled the old man. He turned to the noise, and when he did, I took my chance.”

Sincerely. Every man for himself.

Melons at Midnight
Bat outta hell, Big T Nunn burst into the field, work boots cutting Georgia dirt. Behind him, complete chaos and 12-gauge thunder.

“I stretched out, hit full speed, and about right then I heard shots. At the same time, I heard Gene crank the truck and spin off with melons flying everywhere. I clearly heard the plywood hit the tailgate. And I’m running as fast as my legs will go.”

Pellets exploded all around Nunn. “The old man was reloading and firing steady. Birdshot popped all around, some of them hitting my arms and legs and head, and it stung. I don’t know if he was trying to kill me or just shooting overtop to scare me, but it worked either way. He shot about eight times or so.”

“It’s easy to stir up a mess out in the country, especially if you’re bored and ain’t got any money,” Nunn says.

(Photo courtesy of Cindy Nunn)

With no plan beyond immediate escape, Nunn kept running, aiming for a tree line on the far side of the field. But suddenly—thump, crash, and somersault. Nunn forgot he was running in a field full of melons at midnight.

“My right foot planted dead center of one and went right in, and down I went. Got up, ran a few yards, and hit another. It was like that the whole way across the field, but finally I dove into the tree line and found cover.”

“Out of breath, alone in the dark, I was wishing I’d never have done something this crazy. But most of all, I was scared to death, looking back out at the field. I knew the old man was coming.”

Bury the Body
Splattered in watermelon flesh, streaked in dirt, and skinned on elbows and knees, Nunn appeared to have wrestled a bear and lost.

Crouching in tree cover, unsure of what to do next, he was startled by the sound of leaves rustling to his rear. Rocky looked equally worse for wear.

“Terry, what do you think Gene is doing?”

“I know exactly what he’s doing,” Nunn replied. “He’s headed down the road wide open, and melons are tumbling all outta that bed. I promise you, if that old man thinks about it, he’ll be able to track Gene just by following the watermelons.”

Nunn and Rocky, unsure of how to get back to Jackson County, began moving down the tree line, stopping where the timber brushed the road. “We waited in the shadows, hoping maybe, just maybe, Gene would come back for us.”

An eternity later, Nunn saw headlights approaching. However, the lights didn’t belong to a 1969 F-100. “I knew who it was,” Nunn details. “Gene had gone home and switched out vehicles to his papaw’s truck. I hollered out and Gene slowed down, and we hopped in the bed while he was still moving.”

Forty miles south, the trio pulled up beside the barn, where Gene’s papaw was waiting: I know y’all have been up to no good. Don’t know what y’all been doing. Don’t want to know. Don’t tell me about it. Don’t wake me up no more. Put my truck back in the barn, and y’all behave.

Translated: Papaw knew how to bury a body.

Never Going Back
A heist turned debacle, the watermelon job mercifully ended with a whimper, rather than a bang. The take? Seven watermelons, all gashed and bruised, remained in the F-100’s bed.

The man of a thousand tales, Terry “Big T” Nunn, one of the finest raconteurs in the South.

(Photo courtesy of Cindy Nunn)

“We gave them away to family,” Nunn says. “Looking back, we were just kids in a rural county looking for a little bit of fun that stopped short of trouble.”

“The watermelon raid didn’t cure us from trouble, but it sure fixed us from bothering that old man,” Nunn concludes. “I didn’t ever wanna see him or his shotgun again. I reckon that’s why we never went back.”

(Almost 50 years later, Nunn is a walking library of a thousand stories, all pulled from rural life, agriculture, hunting, fishing, and all points in between. To hear Nunn’s tales and superb delivery, visit his TikTok channel: @terrynunn74 .)

For more from Chris Bennett (@ChrisBennettMS or cbennett@farmjournal.com or 662-592-1106), see:

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AgZen, Corteva Team up on AI-Powered, Retrofit Sprayer Tech

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 15:08:46 GMT

AgZen announces an agreement with Corteva to further “explore the commercial potential” of AgZen’s AI-powered crop spraying optimization technology, RealCoverage.

The news comes on the heels of Corteva’s big announcement on Oct. 1 , detailing the crop protection multinational’s plan to split its crop protection and seeds businesses.

AgZen, a tech startup spun out of MIT, is making a name for itself by pioneering feedback optimization for spray applications — a new approach the company thinks has potential to improve farmer outcomes and reduce crop input costs.

(AgZen)

AgZen’s first product, RealCoverage, is a retrofit kit that can be bolted onto any sprayer to measure and optimize the number of drops of agrochemicals applied to crops. The system features a boom-mounted sensor that analyzes the coverage and quality of spray applications in real-time, displaying actionable data to a tablet mounted in the cab. Farmers can use the data to optimize the physical settings on spray rigs, both self-propelled and pull-behind, to increase coverage.

The startup says its system works by leveraging AI and cutting-edge computer vision, and customers have used RealCoverage to save 30% to 50% on input costs.

Farmer Feedback

(AgZen)

Northwest Indiana farmer Bryan Brost slapped a RealCoverage system onto his Hagie STS 16 high-clearance sprayer to use on his waxy corn and soybean crops. He says it has helped boost his spray program efficiency overall by reducing application rates while maintaining optimal coverage throughout his 12,000-acre operation.

“The payback came in the first year,” he tells Farm Journal via text message. “We have increased our acres [covered] per day with less hours on the machine, the operator and the nurse tanks supplying product [to the sprayer].”

Corey McIntosh set the technology loose across his 4,000 acre spread in Missouri Valley, Iowa. He is looking forward to using the data to improve his application efficiency across the board. He’s also letting his neighbors and local retailer in on the secret.

“I was getting a chem shuttle refilled at [the] co-op, these guys have always been complimentary of our weed control, I asked them: ‘What percentage of leaf surface area do you think you are covering with your sprayers?’ One of their best operators said he thought 50% coverage. The salesman next to him said it would definitely be more than 60%,” McIntosh says.

“They were shocked when I told them we were at 9% to 10%, but nobody has had ever had a way to quantify this before,” he adds. “We are really looking forward to making improvements.”

Since launching on the market in 2024, AgZen says it covered more than 970,000 commercial acres of application across the U.S. on row crops and specialty crops.

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America's Farm Labor Crisis: Can Immigration Reform Save Agriculture?

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 19:24:01 GMT

Walking orchards in the Central Valley, is something Scott Peters’ family has done for four generations. With his great grandfather settling in the fertile valley in 1933, the family has been immersed with changes. From regulations and battles over water, to the fight for labor and immigration, Peters Fruit Farms is not only working to preserve the past, but also fighting for their future.

“Today, we primarily grow stone fruit. We’ve gone a little bit into the citrus just to diversify. We have the packing house, so we want to keep it running year round. Citrus is the winter commodity, and stone fruit is the summer commodity,” Peters says.

The Peters are unique. They don’t just grow and pick the fruit. They’re also packers and shippers — an operation that relies on hundreds of employees throughout the year.

“Labor prices are really difficult for us,” says the California peach grower. “As an example, our minimum wage is $16.50. When we compete against Georgia (known as the ‘Peach State’), their minimum wage $7.25. It’s just under half of what we have to pay people, which means we just don’t have a margin of error. If there’s something wrong with the crop — if we have a weather event — it stings us a lot harder.”

California’s Farm Labor is Skilled and Difficult to Replace

That’s the reality for farmers across California. Not only are regulations and water becoming expensive for growers across the state, but labor costs are also on the rise. And considering labor is the highest cost for fruit growers, it’s putting a severe strain on producers.

And while it’s expensive, labor is one of Peters’ most critical resources.

“They’re a very talented labor force. We can’t just go and get somebody off the street,” he says. “We can’t get an H-2A worker from another country who doesn’t know the industry. They can’t do the same job.”

From Arizona to California, to meat processing plants that span across the U.S. Peters says that’s one of the biggest misconceptions about migrant labor. People may think they aren’t talented or skilled, but Peters argues they’re both.

“The supervisors have these rings, and we’ll open them up to the size of fruit we want picked. They will pick a few samples off the tree, show them what sits on the ring and what goes through the ring. And the labor we have picking in the orchard, they will know — just by looking at the rings — which fruit to pick,” Peters explains. “They’ll just go from limb to limb, tree to tree, and they’ll pick the size that we’re requesting by the rings.”

Scott Peters shows U.S. Farm Report host Tyne Morgan rings they use to show individuals who are picking the fruit just what size of fruit they need to pick that day. With barely any difference in the size, it shows just how skilled the labor that works in Peters’ orchards are today.

(Matt Mormann, Farm Journal )

Peters says, to the untrained eye, the difference in the size of the rings is unnoticeable — making the labor this orchard employs irreplaceable.

“That’s how skilled they are,” he says. “So when people say they’re replaceable and you can get H-2A people or other people off the street, no, it doesn’t work that way. Those people will have no idea that small of a difference when we’re asking them to pick a certain size.”

The Broken U.S. Immigration System

The individuals Peters employs aren’t part of the H-2A system. Instead, his workers have been in California for generations, doing manual labor many Americans either don’t want to do, or physically can’t do, at a speed that’s needed today.

“The immigration system in the U.S. is absolutely broken today,” Peters tells U.S. Farm Report. “Why? Because they don’t have a simple, easy way to make immigrants legal. It’s complicated. It’s not very easily accessible for the people. If they find a way to do it, it takes them a long time. We have employees that have gone through the process and are legal. At the time, we did not know they were not. We had no idea. When they come to us, they show us a valid ID, and they show a valid social security card. As far as we’re concerned, we are hiring legal people. And then they come back to us down the road and they show other cards and say, ‘Well, now i need to change.’ Then we have to abide by the new name because of the standards.”

Results from Farm Journal’s Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor

(Lindsey Pound )

Agricultural economists from across the U.S. agree. In the latest Farm Journal Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor , 87% of economists said the U.S. immigration system is broken for agriculture. But on the flip side, 87% of economists also said there will be no movement on immigration reform in 2025.

Manuel Cunha, president of the Nisei Farmers Leagu e, has been fighting for a fix to the current immigration system for decades. He says the current 40-year-old immigration system doesn’t work for agriculture. He argues it’s dramatically impacting California’s agricultural landscape.

“It’s horribly broken, and you can’t band-aid it together anymore,” Cunha tells U.S. Farm Report.

H-2A Program Doesn’t Work for California Agriculture

The H-2A guest worker program may work for some sectors of agriculture, but it’s not a comprehensive “fix” for agriculture — especially industries that rely on a large number of seasonal labor.

While the program is vital for addressing domestic labor shortages, for labor-intensive specialty crops like fruits and vegetables, the H-2A program is designed to provide a cortical legal source of labor where domestic workers are often unwilling or unavailable.

However, Cunha says what the H-2A guest worker program is designed to do, and how it actually works, are two different things.

“The cost is prohibitive. It’s a broken program. A guest worker program should be what it is. You go to the border, get a card and come into California or Arizona or wherever, work for 10 months and then leave,” Cunha says. “The system today requires people to through a process in the countries where you have recruiters that control the workers. They, in turn, kind of manipulate those workers where to go and how much you’re going to pay me, then the person comes here. On top of that, to provide required housing, transportation and meals is very costly. In this state, at $23 an hour, no farmer can afford that.”

Cunha says these are all reasons why the H-2A program must be reformed.

“We also must have a guest worker program for hotels, restaurants and construction to where those workers can come in here, they work for 10 months in a rotation, they go back and then they come back again,” Cunha says. “But it’s a guest worker program and not allowing the country to select and choose who you want. There has to be a great working relationship on a guest worker program that works for my industry and agriculture and the other industries as well.”

40-Year-Old Program

The last major immigration reform in the United States was the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), which granted legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants and increased penalties for employers hiring them.

The legislation, now 40 years old, is something Cunha argues is out of date.

Efforts to pass new immigration legislation have frequently failed due to partisan disagreements and an inability to find common ground between parties and administrations.

“They use it so they can get re-elected every time. And it’s so sad that our legislators have that type of mentality. Let’s not fix it, because if we say we’re going fix it, that’s how we’ll get elected. That’s how we’ll get re-elected,” Cunha says. “It’s been broken, and it’s been a facade.”

Dignity Act of 2025

Cunha says the only solution on the table that would work today is the Dignity Act of 2025. The bill was introduced on July 15 by Representatives Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and Veronica Escobar (D-TX).

The bill not only focuses on securing the border, but it provides legal status to qualifying undocumented immigrants. It also imposes higher penalties for illegal border crossings and human and child sex trafficking. Not only would it address America’s farm labor crisis, but Cunha says it could help save agricultural industries that rely heavily on migrant labor across the U.S.

“This is the first real immigration bill that has addressed industries. The Farm Worker Modernization Act was just ag, and it really didn’t do all of ag. It only did the field and not the packing houses or the processing,” Cunha explains. “But being that we’re in the year 2025, many industries like agriculture have the same problem. Those workers have been there for years. And so somehow, we need to give them that opportunity to have a legal means to work here and to travel home.

Cunha says the U.S. has to do something new when it comes to immigration reform, and the Dignity Act of 2025 gives that life.

“The president continually gives off positive vibes: ‘I want the workers to stay here. They are important for the industries, agriculture, the restaurants, the hotels, the construction.’ So, those people need to be here. The bill absolutely deals with that. It makes them have dignity, respect and the fear of not being apprehended any part of the day, going to church or going to the hospital or whatever. They would have a legal card, and the bill’s doing that,” Cunha says.

For now, there’s a nervousness among workers in California — essential labor that supports California’s multi-billion-dollar farming community.

“The workers that are here are more than any H-2A worker that could ever come into the unit. We have 1.6 million. The Department of Labor couldn’t even handle that number if they wanted to bring in H-2A people. The system would blow up,” Cunha says.

California Farmers Are Hopeful

In June, President Donald Trump said he would issue an order soon to address the effects of his immigration crackdown on the country’s farm and hotel industries, which rely heavily on migrant labor.

Trump continues to send mixed signals on immigration policies — even with his hints of a fix for agriculture. According to preliminary Census Bureau data, analyzed by the Pew Research Center , the number of immigrant workers in the U.S. has declined by 1.2 million from January through the end of July. That figure includes people who are in the country illegally, as well as legal residents.

Peters says, considering the Trump administration continues to focus on agriculture, he is hanging onto hope. The hope is that Washington will finally find a long-term fix that helps farmers and protects the precious labor they can’t do without.

“They’re very talented workers,” Peters says. “They have skills, and they’re very hard to replace. You have to train the new person, and it’s how fast they pick up on the training. We’ve looked at robots that do pick fruit. The technology is coming, but it’s not there yet. It’s got a ways to go.”

Americans’ View on Immigration

Americans seem to be growing more positive toward immigration over the past year. According to a Gallup poll released in June, a record-high 79% of U.S. adults say immigration is a good thing for the country.

According to Gallup, these shifts reverse a four-year trend of rising concern about immigration that began in 2021. And with illegal border crossings down sharply this year, the Gallup poll found fewer Americans back hard-line border enforcement measures, while more favor offering pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the U.S.

Yamaha Ag Q&A: When Can Growers Buy Farm Robots? North America Rollout Explained

Sat, 15 Mar 2025 12:59:00 GMT

Yamaha is a Japanese legacy automotive and motor sports giant known the world over, but many aren’t aware that the company also has a long and storied history in ag tech.

Yamaha’s R-Max gas-powered spray helicopter launched in Japan in the 1990s, making it one of the first unmanned aerial application vehicles on the market for applying crop protection products to growing crops. FAZER-R was its next iteration of spray drones, and the company says it has over 2,800 units of both R-MAX and FAZER remote controlled spray helicopters deployed today with farmers around the world.

In late January, the manufacturer announced the launch of Yamaha Agriculture , a new U.S.-based company that will focus on delivering autonomous equipment and AI-powered digital solutions. The company came together as a single business unit as a result of strategic acquisitions of robotics and AI focused startups Robotics Plus and The Yield.

We recently connected with Nolan Paul, who was named CEO of the relatively-new ag tech division, to learn more about the venture as it gets a footing established on the West Coast. Previously Paul was Head of R&D Strategy and Emerging Technology for Driscoll’s, the global market leader in production of fresh berries.

Farm Journal (FJ): How long of a timeline do you anticipate until commercialized robotics solutions are available for growers to purchase?

Nolan Paul (NP): Robotics Plus’ Prospr vehicles are already deployed with customers and distributors in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.

FJ: What type of specific use cases do you envision bringing to market that will leverage advanced data analytics and AI?

NP: A multitude of use cases with time to market based on the degree of technical difficulty. We already offer weather-driven predictions to customers in the form of yield forecasts and harvest and spray timing. The next set of use cases will be variable rate spray applications based on real-time sensing on the vehicle (e.g., spray volumes based on canopy density).

(Yamaha Agriculture)

FJ: How do you envision Yamaha’s robotic solutions being marketed/sold to growers?

NP: Robotics Plus already has distributor partners in the U.S. and Australia/New Zealand. However, it’s important for Yamaha to maintain direct relationships with growers, especially our larger customers, to optimize customer success and develop our product roadmap. Regarding our monetization approach, we believe growers should purchase our hardware solutions the same way they prefer to purchase the rest of their machinery. Some prefer to buy outright. Others prefer a financing or lease option. We remain open to alternative monetization options if it makes life easier for the grower.

FJ: Where will the new division Yamaha Agriculture be based? How many employees will make up the division?

NP: Yamaha Agriculture is a U.S.-incorporated business with subsidiaries in Australia and New Zealand. Our headquarters is in the Bay Area as it provides easy access to Tokyo, Sydney and Auckland. We also have local offices in Napa, Calif., and Wenatchee, Wash., along with team members based up and down the West Coast. Currently, Yamaha Agriculture has approximately 175 employees.

FJ: Ag technologies that solve a specific problem for the farmer seem to be the solutions that are adopted by American farmers. Are there any specific issues that your technology will be able to solve for growers?

NP: Currently spraying and weed control with our Prospr vehicle. However, it’s a modular platform, so the product roadmap includes several implements such as mowing and under-row cultivation. Our goal isn’t to develop implements from scratch. We are partnering with implement companies to integrate their tools on Prospr.

Separately, we also offer yield predictions and crop recommendations through our acquisition of The Yield. These two capabilities lay the foundation for increased closed-loop opportunities (actionable insights) with a focus on reducing block-level variability.

FJ: Do you have any concerns with the new U.S. administration’s trade policies considering Yamaha Agriculture is targeting the U.S. as a primary market for your technology?

NP: Yamaha sells a lot of products in the United States, ranging from motorcycles to outboard motors, ATVs and golf cars. As a result, we will take guidance from our broader organization and implement a strategy that is most effective for Yamaha Agriculture and our customers.

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