Georgia Praises H-2A Reform and Financial Assistance for Ag on Hold
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson and this is your Agribusiness Update.
**Georgia Ag Commissioner Tyler Harper is praising the Trump Administration’s proposed changes to the H-2A Visa Program that will save Georgia farmers millions in labor costs next year.
The proposed changes streamline the H-2A program’s worker classification system and significantly lower Georgia’s Adverse Effect Wage Rate.
Harper says for some producers, these changes will be the deciding factor that allows them to produce a crop this year when they otherwise may not have.
**Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins says the Trump administration won’t move forward on financial assistance for producers struggling with high costs and low commodity prices until the government shutdown ends.
The administration transferred $13 billion from the Commodity Credit Corporation account to fund the aid package, but hasn’t announced the terms or the exact size of the package.
Rollins says the government needs to reopen so they can move forward on the assistance.
**An important American food aid program is no longer in danger after funding was found to support it during the government shutdown.
Axios says the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, is relied on heavily by low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women and young children.
The White House says it will transfer funding from tariff revenue to keep the program going for the foreseeable future.
