Ag News: H-2A Changes
**Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue has announced significant Department of Labor changes that should modernize the burdensome H2A visa process.
First, eliminating requirements to advertise job openings in print newspapers, instead shifting to ads on the broader reaching, more cost effective DOL and State Workforce Agency websites.
And second, updates to pertinent H-2A forms and online filing for the H-2A temporary agricultural program.
Both moves should make it easier to follow laws and hire farm workers through the H-2A program.
**All former U.S. Ag Secretaries since President Reagan’s Administration announced their support Thursday for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
According to agweb.com, a letter written to Congress underscored the importance of passing USMCA saying, “We need a strong and reliable trade deal with our top two customers for U.S. agriculture products. USMCA will provide certainty in the North American market for the U.S. farm sector and rural economy. We strongly support ratification of USMCA.”
**It might be hard to see, but domestic demand for dairy products is at a 56-year high.
According to USDA data, you have to go back all the way to 1962 to see higher per capita demand for dairy products, which totaled 646 pounds last year.
Milkbusiness.com reports, while fluid milk sales have fallen dramatically over the past decade, some 3.7 billion pounds between 2013 and 2017, other dairy product sales have more than made up for the losses.