Georgia Drought Monitor Confirms Dry and H-2A Processing to Resume
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson and this is your Agribusiness Update.
**Georgia’s farmers don’t need data to know the weather has been dry recently, but the recent Drought Monitor report confirmed as much, showing 157 of the state’s 159 counties were at least abnormally dry.
www.gfb.org reports the Drought Monitor’s intensity map showed 13 counties in Southwest Georgia had some portion of extreme drought.
Another 43 counties had abnormally dry conditions, while 60 had moderate and 41 counties had severe drought conditions.
www.gfb.org/news/ag-news/post/all-but-two-georgia-counties-experiencing-dry-conditions
**The Department of Labor’s updated shutdown plan confirms the Office of Foreign Labor Certification will resume processing H-2A temporary labor certification applications during the lapse in appropriations.
The Western Growers Association sent a letter to the White House asking the DOL to resume processing H-2A petitions during the government shutdown.
The WGA met with administration officials to outline chief concerns and highlight challenges this pause in H-2A processing is causing for producers.
**The USDA transferred $13 billion from its Commodity Credit Corporation into a new “Farmers Support Program” fund tied to tariff relief, and drawn scrutiny because lawmakers were not informed.
Because the funds were shifted without notification, some critical programs face shortfalls.
About $3 billion was later reclaimed by certain USDA services.
Senator Patty Murray, of Washington, criticized the move as undermining key farm programs and centralizing funds without oversight.
