USTR Asked for Tariff Relief and Cover Crops Increase

**A diverse group of more than 40 American food and ag leaders sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on tariffs.

The groups are asking for the suspension, reduction, or elimination of tariffs to ease the burden of retaliatory tariffs on rural America.

The letter was led by Farmers for Free Trade and came as the administration is working on a mandatory review of recently increased tariffs.

Tariff changes are under review as the White House addresses inflation.

**As American agriculture grapples with scarce labor and increasing costs, one solution could lie in precision agriculture applications that can maximize output while reducing costs.

Crop and livestock producers can supercharge operational efficiency with advanced precision technologies such as data analytics, connected equipment, robotics and automation.

The lack of affordable, reliable broadband access in rural America, however, has hindered widespread adoption of precision ag technologies.

**Farmers often plant cover crops in the fall to provide winter cover for soil that otherwise would be bare.

Over the past decade, USDA’s Economic Research Service says fall cover crop adoption has grown in the U.S.

On fields growing corn for grain, 0.6% of the acreage used a fall cover crop before the 2010 crop. By 2016, 5.5% had a fall cover, and by 2021, 7.9%, representing a 44% increase in fall cover crop adoption.