Employers who use the H-2A program are seeking nationwide relief from a Labor Department rule that has already been enjoined in 17 states.
In a lawsuit filed Monday in Kentucky, the National Council of Agricultural Employers and other plaintiffs criticized the department’s decision to comply with an Aug. 26 injunction from a Georgia federal judge by creating two separate application processes for H-2A workers – one applying to employers in states affected by the injunction, and one for states not affected.
The judge found the rule to be unconstitutional because it gives farmworkers collective bargaining rights. The Labor Department said it would continue processing H-2A applications in the states that sued, but would not enforce the invalidated provisions of the rule.
The separate application processes, “whose applicability depends on the identity and location of the applicant and their work locations, results in a confusing and haphazard regulatory regime that sows confusion among those subject to the final rule,” the lawsuit filed Monday in Kentucky says.
“This rule should have never seen the light of day,” NCAE President and CEO Michael Marsh said. He noted the North Carolina Farm Bureau also has filed suit and “if we're successful, this should cover all of the other states, as we have national membership and workers in all states except Alaska.”
Extension-plus in the offing?
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, broke some news Monday at the annual Ag Outlook Forum presented by Agri-Pulse and the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City. Moran disclosed that Senate Ag Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow was considering attaching some kind of farm aid package to a farm bill extension at the end of the year. Stabenow didn’t discuss the cost of the package, he said.
“She's recognizing the problems, challenges in Michigan, her home state, but across the country that agricultural producers have because of high, high input costs,” Moran told reporters. Moran’s a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which would have a say on such a package.
Keep in mind: The major commodity groups aren’t united yet on this idea. Most of the support for an aid package has come from southern commodities so far. The cost of the farm assistance would increase dramatically if corn and soybeans growers are covered.
Winter canola testing to expand
This year’s test of winter canola went well, and acreage will be significantly expanded in 2025, according to Tim Glenn, executive vice president for Corteva’s seed business unit. Winter canola is viewed as a potential new feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel.
About 20 farmers grew canola on 5,000 acres in Kentucky and Tennessee under a pilot project led by Corteva, Bunge and Chevron. Canola has a 45% oil content, and the crop yielded about 55 bushels per acre. “That’s a lot of oil to be produced in a very effective way,” he said at the Kansas City Ag Outlook Forum.
Production will be expanded to six states with five times more farmers and six to seven times more acreage, Glenn said.
USDA economist: Calif. consumers footing Prop 12 costs
USDA’s chief economist, Seth Meyer, says California consumers, rather than producers, are paying the cost of the pork production changes required by Proposition 12.
Prop 12 has resulted in a premiums of 19% on retail pork prices in California and 21% at the wholesale level, Meyer said at the Ag Outlook Forum.
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“At least for Prop 12, the people that want the policy are the ones that are also experiencing the changes to the policy,” Meyer said.
By the way: Lori Stevermer, president of the National Pork Producers Council, told the forum her group continues making the case for a farm bill provision that would preempt state laws such as Prop 12. “If one state wants to put in regulations for how production is managed in its state, that's fine. Our concern is one state dictating to another,” she said.
CO2 leak from ADM plant gains attention from activists
A leak of liquefied carbon dioxide from an ADM monitoring well in Illinois is being used by conservationists in a campaign to prohibit carbon sequestration near an aquifer used for drinking water.
EPA and ADM say drinking water wells were never at risk in the leak of about 8,000 metric tons of liquid CO2. The leak, which resulted from corrosion, took place at about 5,000 feet underground, while domestic wells are at about 200 feet, ADM spokesperson Jackie Anderson said.
EPA issued a notice of violation to ADM last month and said it is continuing to investigate. ADM says the well has been “plugged, is not in use, and none of the other wells were impacted.”
“We continue to be confident in the safety, security and effectiveness of CCS as a greenhouse gas mitigation technology and its potential to bring new industries and economic opportunities to the entire state of Illinois,” ADM said.
Pam Richart, co-director of Eco-Justice Collaborative, said current proposals to store CO2 under the Mahomet Aquifer and its recharge areas now under review by the U.S. EPA “are over 50 times that already sequestered by ADM, and this could be just the beginning.”
Rounds requests GAO study into impacts of Chevron deference
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., is requesting a Government Accountability Office study of what agricultural regulatory disputes have previously been settled by deferring to agencies’ interpretations, a process known as Chevron Deference that was recently overturned by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court’s decision leaves federal agencies with less flexibility in implementing laws passed by Congress. Speaking to farmers at Dakotafest earlier this summer, Rounds applauded the court’s decision while also pointing out that lawmakers moving forward need to get more specific when writing legislation. That will also likely mean more congressional employees would need to be brought in to help draft legislation, he added.
In his letter to GAO, Rounds said the deference principle has “disproportionately impacted” rural states, noting the agriculture, mining and energy industries are "increasingly subject to a growing number of rules.” Many of these, he said, have been the subject of court disputes.
Final word: "We want this. We need this to get to our goals.” – Jeff Davidman, vice president of government affairs for Delta Air Lines, talking about the carrier’s need for sustainable aviation fuel. Delta needs 400 million gallons of SAF by 2030 to meet its goal of switching 10% of its fuel consumption to SAF.
Davidman was speaking at the annual Ag Outlook Forum presented by Agri-Pulse and the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City.
