News Update
March 19, 2018
AG Act Explained
Proposed legislation to revamp the guestworker program for immigrant agricultural workers is again being discussed in Congress. Speaking on behalf of Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Stephanie Gadbois, senior counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, explained the proposed Agricultural Guestworker Act (AG Act) to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Agriculture & Food Policy Committee Feb. 2 in Phoenix, Ariz. during the 2018 Cattle Industry Convention.
According to Gadbois, the proposed AG Act (dubbed the “H-2C” program), which would replace the current H-2A program applied to immigrant agricultural workers seeking temporary or seasonal work in the United States, would be administered by the USDA instead of the Secretary of Labor.
“We believe a guestworker program should help farmers, not hinder them,” she noted, but also emphasized that the proposed H-2C program is not a pathway to citizenship for guestworkers.
Providing an overview of the AG Act, Gadbois explained 450,000 visas would be available each year for H-2C workers; 40,000 of those would be exclusive for meat- and poultry-processing workers. Returning H-2A workers and previously unauthorized farmworkers who participate legally in the new program will not count toward the annual visa limit.
Continue reading this Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA article online.
GROW Act Strengthens Conservation Programs
Late last week, Iowa’s Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), as well as Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA), introduced the Give our Resources the Opportunity to Work (GROW )Act (S. 2557).
The act would maintain funding and acreage levels for the farm bill’s three largest conservation programs: the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
“The GROW Act demonstrates clear support for our nation’s farmers to strengthen conservation efforts across the landscape,” said Anna Johnson, policy associate with the Center for Rural Affairs. “At a time when building healthy soils and protecting water quality are of utmost importance, any cuts to these conservation programs would weaken farmers’ ability to preserve these important natural resources.”
Johnson said the GROW Act provides avenues for farmers to access higher levels of conservation.
“Some of the exciting proposals in the bill are that it incentivizes cover crops under CSP, increases set-aside funds for conservation buffers within continuous CRP, and maintains an emphasis on water quality under EQIP in support of farmers who steward natural resources for future generations,” Johnson said.
For more information, read the full release online.
Ranch Groups Make Claim for Summary Judgment
in Suit to Return COOL
On Tuesday, March 13 independent, domestic rancher groups Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF) USA and the Cattle Producers of Washington (CPoW) made arguments in a pivotal hearing on their lawsuit to reinstate a section of the recently repealed country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law that required beef and pork imported from foreign countries to retain their origin labels all the way to the consumer. The argument for granting summary judgment took place in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington in Spokane, Wash.
The suit alleges that the USDA is knowingly violating U.S. law by not requiring meatpackers to carry forward the country-of-origin labels that are on the packages and containers when meat is imported, so that origin information is passed along to consumers rather than stripped off the products. The plaintiffs allege that this allows multinational meatpackers to reclassify foreign meat as a domestic product even if all the meatpackers do is unwrap and rewrap the imported product.
Muraskin argued that the court should undo this unlawful labeling regime by compelling the USDA to comply with Congress’s plain directive that USDA should enforce the import labeling laws — the same laws that apply to all other products — on beef and pork.
Read this R-CALF news release online.
Montana Ranchers to Support USCA Truthful Beef Labeling
The United States Cattlemen’s Association’s (USCA) efforts on truthful beef labeling will be supported this month with multiple fundraising events being organized by producers across the state of Montana.
Earlier this year, USCA filed a petition for rulemaking to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to define the terms “beef” and “meat” as used by alternative protein sources. These plant-based and lab-created products are using the terms “beef” and “meat” on their products, a highly misleading and incorrect use of those terms. USCA’s petition requests USDA FSIS to limit the use of the terms “beef” and “meat” to products only derived from traditionally raised livestock.
USCA is member-driven and member-funded. These fundraising events will raise money to continue efforts to ensure truthful, transparent and honest labeling on U.S. beef products.
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