For the third Congress in a row, House members have offered a bill addressing agriculture’s labor shortage, reintroducing the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which allows year-round ag labor for H-2A workers and creates a merit-based visa program for the ag sector.
Washington Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse and California Democrat Zoe Lofgren are again leading the bipartisan efforts. New to the sponsor list this year are freshman Rep. John Duarte, Republican of California, and longtime Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York.
“It’s well past time we get this legislation that serves the best interests of our country to the President’s desk,” Lofgren said in a statement.
The bill is widely supported by commodity and agricultural industry groups including the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, National Milk Producers Federation, International Fresh Produce Association, Western Growers and the United Farm Workers.
Keep in mind: The bill cleared the House handily in March 2021 but the Senate failed to act before the end of the last session.
Senators reintroduce rail service bill
Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., are reintroducing a bill meant to clarify the “common carrier obligation,” a law that guides the Surface Transportation Board in regulating rail transportation.
The common carrier obligation currently requires rail carriers to serve shippers “on reasonable request,” though the senators say in a one-pager that it “lacks a clear definition.” Their bill, the Reliable Rail Service Act, would “establish specific criteria for the STB to use when determining whether a rail carrier has violated its obligation.”
The bill has the backing of a number of groups representing agricultural shippers, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Soybean Association, the National Association of Wheat Growers, the National Corn Growers Association, the National Grain and Feed Association, and the National Farmers Union.
USDA expands crop insurance for camelina
The Agriculture Department is expanding crop insurance for camelina to counties across 10 states, a decision it says is based on “anticipated increase in demand for the crop in biofuel production.”
Written crop insurance agreements will now be available in select counties in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, according to a USDA press release. The insurance will include Actual Production History coverage, though only camelina grown under contract with a processor will be eligible for coverage.
Take note: Camelina is being eyed as a potential winter crop, especially in the Midwest where it is being seen as a new addition to the typical corn-soybean rotation. It can be used as a feedstock for renewable diesel, a drop-in fuel that the Energy Information Administration says could see its production capacity doubled by 2025.
Label date, not phrase, drives consumers’ actions
When consumers are looking at the label on a milk jug, the date is the deciding factor as to whether to dump or keep, even if it says “Sell by” or “Best if Used By” or “Use by” before the date.
Researchers at Ohio State University used eye-tracking technology to determine consumers’ intent to throw away milk. The beverage represents 12% of all food wasted by U.S. consumers.
“As soon as we changed the printed date, that was a huge mover of whether or not they would discard or not. So we documented both where their eyes were and what they said was going to happen. And in both cases, it’s all about the date, and the phrase is second fiddle,” said Brian Roe, professor of agricultural, environment and development economics at Ohio State University.
Policymakers are working towards setting a universal two-phrase system to help increase consumer understanding of the listed dates and reduce food waste.
“For policy reasons, it’s still important to narrow the phrases down to two choices. But that’s only the beginning – there needs to be a broader conversation about pushing those date horizons back to help minimize food waste,” Roe said.
Brazil corn production forecast raised again
Ideal growing weather in June has prompted the Brazilian consulting AgRural to raise its forecast again this year for total corn production in the country. Plenty of rain and no signs of frost mean that Brazil’s second-harvest corn crop – the “safrinha” – will be larger than expected, pushing overall production of all three harvests to 132.3 million metric tons.
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The “safrinha” – Brazil’s largest corn crop, which is planted after the soybean harvest – is now 17% harvested and is expected to produce 102.9 million tons, says AgRural. That’s up from the previous prediction of 97.9 million tons.
“Harvest progressed well in [the state of] Mato Grosso, favored by drier weather,” the firm said. “Although there is still a delay in relation to the previous season, productivity reports are still excellent.”
Florida to test phosphogypsum in road projects
Florida will test the use of radioactive phosphogypsum in road construction, under legislation signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The bill was opposed by environmental groups but welcomed by phosphate manufacturer Mosaic, which emphasized in a statement that the legislation authorizes a study.
“We want more, not less, knowledge around this topic and so should everyone else,” the company said. “And again, at the end of the day, ultimate approval rests with the EPA.”
The Florida Industrial and Phosphate Research Institute estimates there are "about 1 billion tons of phosphogypsum stacked in 24 stacks in Florida and about 30 million new tons are generated each year."
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