U.S. President Donald Trump's criticism of the protected Canadian dairy system has emboldened American farm groups to tackle other longstanding agriculture irritants, as the countries move toward rewriting trade rules.U.S. [node:read-more:link]
On Thursday, May 11, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue announced a major reorganization of the Department; the first time the Department has undergone a significant reshuffling since 1994. The reorganization has been framed as a move toward more efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability. [node:read-more:link]
States need to have a larger role in implementing the Endangered Species Act, three heads of state wildlife agencies told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee at a hearing.“State fish and wildlife directors generally believe the ESA is not performing as it should and is not sufficiently leveraging state agency expertise and cooperation,” Nick Wiley, executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and president of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, told the EPW committee. [node:read-more:link]
The Trump administration is delaying for six months a rule that would require organic meat and egg producers to abide by stricter animal welfare standards. Former President Barack Obama’s Agriculture Department announced the rule two days before he left office in January. The regulations are designed to ensure that organically grown livestock have enough space to lie down, turn around, stand up and fully stretch their limbs. Poultry would have enough room to move freely and spread their wings. Beaks couldn’t be removed and cattle tails couldn’t be cut. [node:read-more:link]
A tough U.S. proposal on bilateral sugar trade with Mexico sets a bad precedent for an impending renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the head of Mexico's sugar chamber, Juan Cortina, said on Tuesday. The U.S. sugar industry pressed the Commerce Department late last year to withdraw from a 2014 trade agreement that sets prices and quota for U.S. [node:read-more:link]
Growers and farmworker unions said Tuesday that a federal immigration crackdown in rural towns is scaring away workers and forcing cutbacks in production of hand-harvested produce. “Wherever I go in California — I was just up in the wine industry — when I talk to dairy farmers, when I talk to small farmers in the Bay Area, even some in the Central Valley, they tell me they can’t find workers,” Feinstein said on a conference call with reporters. “That workers are scared, that they’re afraid they’re going to be picked up and deported, that they have disappeared.” [node:read-more:link]
This report identifies actions we are taking at the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to meet the challenge of advancing agricultural trade, improving service delivery to agricultural producers, and addressing the needs of Rural America. These steps are part of a broader on-going review of the Department based on the President’s March 13, 2017; Executive Order 13781 entitled “Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch.” Section 3208 of the Agricultural Act of 2014, Pub. L. [node:read-more:link]
Illegal immigration across the southwestern border is down a stunning 76 percent since President Trump was elected, with the flow of children and families dropping even faster as analysts say the administration’s commitment to enforcing the law has changed the reality along the border. [node:read-more:link]
U.S. citrus exports to Europe are expected to increase following a change in citrus canker safeguard rules. [node:read-more:link]
Recent stricter implementation of immigrant control policies has resulted in the deportation of some undocumented immigrants (Escalante, Yu, and Li, 2016). At the same time, employment verification systems and monitored hiring procedures have been established and enforced, as have harsher sanctions (involving higher civil fines and criminal penalties) for employers who violate the law (Smith and Sugimori, 2015). [node:read-more:link]
