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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
The Labor Department on Thursday issued new regulations for employing H-2A workers that tighten standards for housing and meals while clarifying that agricultural associations can be held liable for rules violations by individual farmers.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has stunned Capitol Hill - and provided a big boost for farm bill programs - by cutting a major climate funding deal with Sen. Joe Manchin.
The office in the Labor Department that oversees and enforces the H-2A guest worker program will continue to be without a leader for the foreseeable future, which could hamper the Biden administration’s efforts to provide more protections for farmworkers.
The White House is doubling down on blaming meatpackers for higher food prices. White House press secretary Jen Psaki was pressed at a news conference Tuesday to say how corporate greed had caused inflation. She immediately cited the “greed of meat conglomerates.”
Following a failed attempt by the Trump administration to freeze farmworker wages for two years, the Labor Department is proposing to go back to setting minimum wage rates for foreign workers the same way it had been for 30 years.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says his three-day trip to the international climate conference in Glasgow showed the importance that agriculture will play in the Biden administration’s plans to address climate change.
The Biden administration has been filling positions relatively quickly at departments and agencies other than USDA that have regulatory authority over agriculture, while some of Donald Trump’s nominees to similar positions ran into troubles during the confirmation process.