Ag Groups Applaud SAWA and Phosphate Tariffs Suspended
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**Major livestock groups are applauding new legislation that would expand the H-2A guest worker program to year-round agriculture, calling it the most significant farm labor reform proposal in decades.
The Securing Agriculture's Workforce Act, introduced by
House Ag Committee Chair G. T. Thompson, would allow dairy and pork producers, and others, to use H-2A workers by removing the program's seasonal requirement and permitting contracts of up to 350 days.
**U.S. farmers planted fewer corn acres and more soybeans this spring, according to the latest Acreage report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
USDA estimates 95.3 million acres of corn were planted this year, down from 3% last year.
Soybean acreage increased 5% to 85.4 million acres.
Wheat plantings fell 6% to 42.7 million acres, while cotton acreage rose 6%.
The June survey is based on data from more than 90,000 producers.
**President Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending countervailing duties applied to imported phosphate.
National Corn Growers Association president, Jed Bower says one of our farmers’ biggest expenses every year is fertilizer, and that’s only been made worse by actions of companies looking to tighten market control.
Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall said 70% of farmers say they wouldn’t be able to afford all the fertilizer needed for this season.
