Farm-labor reform bill heads for House vote this week
Six weeks after sponsors unveiled their plan, the House is scheduled to vote on a bipartisan bill to provide legal status to undocumented farmworkers and to modernize the H-2A guestworker program. If passed, the bill has an uncertain future, with impeachment dominating the congressional agenda and the Republican-run Senate blockading legislation from the Democratic-controlled House.
Kudlow says ‘no arbitrary deadlines,’ but a Sino-U.S. trigger date is near
China said it would waive import tariffs on some shipments of U.S. soybeans and pork in a goodwill gesture hours before White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the two nations were close to an interim agreement on the trade war.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
It’s a Wonderful lawsuit (Los Angeles Times): Wonderful Co., a giant in the pistachio business, sued Fresno County in a bid to keep one of its suppliers from building a processing plant and going into business as a competitor.
Cod fishing moratorium in Gulf of Alaska (NPR): A federal agency shut down cod fishing in the Gulf of Alaska during the 2020 season because warming waters linked to climate change are depleting the cod population.
The veterinarian who was hired to milk cows (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel): Short of hired hands, some U.S. dairy farms are using a visa program for high-skilled workers to hire Mexican veterinarians and engineers so they can use them as manual labor to clean barns or milk cows.
EU decides to ban chlorpyrifos (Brussels Times): EU member states voted to ban the insecticide chlorpyrifos, with a three-month grace period expected in early 2020 to eliminate supplies.
Meat, oils drive food-price increase (FAO): Meat prices rose by the largest amount in one month since May 2009 and vegetable oil prices were the highest in 18 months as the Food Price Index, which tracks prices for five major groups of commodities, reached its highest reading, 177.2 points, since September 2017.
ON THE USDA CALENDAR
Monday
– USDA opens enrollment for large tracts of land in the Conservation Reserve through a “general” signup that runs through Feb. 28. This is the first general signup in three years for the program, which pays landowners an annual rent to idle fragile cropland for 10 years or longer.
– Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and president Randy Gordon of the National Grain and Feed Association hold “fireside chat” at NCFA’s Country Elevator Conference, 9 a.m. ET; visit adult education class at WorkOne Indy and talks to students about their experience in the job training program, 10:30 a.m. ET; and join Indiana state agriculture director Bruce Kettler for a conservation “roundtable,” 2 p.m. ET, Indianapolis. The NGFA conference concludes on Tuesday.
– Deputy Agriculture Secretary Steve Censky speaks at Illinois Farm Bureau annual meeting, 11:20 a.m. CT, Chicago.
– Agriculture news service DTN holds 2019 Ag Summit, through Wednesday, Chicago.
– U.S. Cattlemen’s Association holds annual membership meeting, through Tuesday, Las Vegas.
– USDA releases weekly Crop Progress report, 4 p.m. ET. Ordinarily, the USDA stops the report at the end of November but it said reports will continue into December because of the late harvest.
Tuesday
– USDA releases monthly Crop Production and WASDE reports, noon ET. Because the fall harvest usually ends in November, the USDA carries forward its November estimates of the size of the corn and soybean crops so analysts focus on the forecast of supplies of the commodities at the Aug. 31 end of the 2019/20 marketing year. Ending stocks of soybeans are expected to be the third-largest ever, around 475 million bushels, while ending stocks for corn are expected in the range of 1.86-1.92 billion bushels, according to wire service surveys of traders.
– House Agriculture subcommittee hearing, “The implementation of farm bill international food assistance and development programs,” 10 a.m. ET, 1300 Longworth.
– House Rules Committee meets to vote on terms of debate for HR 5038, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which would give legal status to undocumented farmworkers and streamline the H-2A guestworker program, 3 p.m. ET, The Capitol.
– Almond Board of California holds The Almond Conference, through Thursday, Sacramento.
– National Conference of State Legislatures holds 2019 NCSL Capitol Forum, through Thursday, Phoenix.
Wednesday
– The House is scheduled to open debate on HR 5038, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which would give legal status to undocumented farm workers and streamline the H-2A guestworker visa process, noon ET, The Capitol.
– House Agriculture Committee hearing, “Member day,” 10 a.m. ET, 1300 Longworth.
– House Agriculture subcommittee hearing, “Review of credit conditions: Report from agricultural lenders,” 2 p.m. ET, 1300 Longworth. For details, click here.
– Farmer’s Business Network holds Farmer2Farmer conference, through Friday, Omaha, Nebraska. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will “discuss issues regarding the rural economy.”
Thursday
– USDA releases America’s Diverse Family Farms: 2019 Edition, 3 p.m. ET; a webinar about the report starts at 4 p.m. ET. Also at 3 p.m., USDA releases monthly Rice Outlook, Wheat Outlook and Feed Outlook.
Friday
– Final day to enroll in Dairy Margin Coverage subsidy for 2020.
