GFB in D.C. to Air Concerns and Local Food for Schools Cuts
From the Ag Information Network, this is your Agribusiness Update.
**Georgia Farm Bureau members visited Washington, D.C. recently, meeting with the Georgia congressional delegation and sharing concerns about ag labor, the farm bill, and disaster and economic assistance.
www.morningagclips.com reports the GFB group emphasized the onerous farm labor costs under the Department of Labor’s Adverse Effective Wage Rate.
For 2025, the AEWR for Georgia is $16.08 which some says pushed the actual cost of foreign labor up more than $3 per hour.
www.morningagclips.com/labor-tariffs-key-issues-discussed-in-gfb-trip-to-washington-d-c/
**USDA is ending two pandemic-era programs that provided more than $1 billion for schools and food banks to purchase food from local farmers and producers.
About $660 million of that went to schools and childcare centers to buy food for meals through the Local Foods for Schools program.
Proposed spending cuts to fund Republican’s tax bill include raising the poverty level needed for schools to provide free meals without an application.
**Federal court rulings in California and Maryland have ordered multiple government agencies to reinstate probationary employees who they say were unlawfully terminated.
The California Judge found the firings violated legal protections, while the Maryland Judge ruled the Trump administration failed to follow proper procedures for large-scale layoffs.
The USDA says the Department will work quickly to develop a phased plan for return-to-duty, and while those plans materialize, all probationary employees will be paid.
