Ag labor challenges are at the forefront of the industry’s minds. The National Farmers Union (NFU) says the industry can no longer afford to ignore them.
“Farmers right now, right, we’re paying really strong wages out there as it is,” says NFU President Rob Larew. “If this workforce gets even tighter and tighter, you know, it’s going to drive some folks out of production.”
Larew says that many attempts have been made to address the issue in Washington, but they always fall short, and it has been frustrating to watch.
“We’ve had bipartisan bills make it a part of the way through Congress with the support of farmworker’s groups, and so it’s been extraordinarily frustrating that there’s a lot of consensus on what should be done to kind of reform H-2A in particular, but we just can’t seem to get it done,” he explains.
Larew says that finding adequate labor might be agriculture’s most significant problem today. He remains hopeful that H-2A reform is possible.
According to the National Council of Farmers Cooperatives (NCFC), President and CEO Chuck Conner says, there is only one other option besides addressing ag labor shortages.
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California rancher and former NCBA President Kevin Kester joined House Republicans on Tuesday to tout provisions in the Big, Beautiful Bill that support family ranches.
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The EPA proposal laid out two options: fully reallocate all exempted volumes to the 2026–2027 standards, or reallocate half.
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The Fertilizer Research Act, reintroduced by Sens. Grassley, Ernst, and Baldwin, would direct the USDA to study and publish public reports on competition and pricing trends in the fertilizer market.
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