Friday, March 12, 2021
CapitalPress.com 5
House set to reconsider immigration reform
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
MORE DETAILS
A bipartisan bill addressing
the labor shortage in agriculture
through immigration reform was
reintroduced in the U.S. House
last week by Reps. Zoe Lofgren,
D-Calif., and Dan Newhouse,
R-Wash.
The Farm Workforce Mod-
ernization Act, HR 1537, has the
support of 24 Democrats and 20
Republicans.
It would establish a pro-
gram for agricultural workers in
the U.S to earn legal status and
establish a mandatory, nation-
wide E-Verify system for all
agricultural employment with a
structured phase-in process.
The bill would also reform
the H-2A temporary worker visa
program to provide more flexi-
bility for employers, streamline
A summary of the bill can be found at: https://bit.ly/30pXj0i
the process and provide access to
year-round workers.
The original version of the
bill passed the House in Decem-
ber 2019 on a 260-165 vote and
had the support of more than 300
agricultural groups.
Sponsors of the current bill
say it was negotiated over sev-
eral months with input from agri-
cultural stakeholders and labor
organizations, and some of those
groups are chiming in with state-
ments of support.
Throughout the process of
drafting the legislation in the
previous Congress, Lofgren and
Newhouse met with a wide vari-
ety of stakeholders to solicit input
and build support, said Chuck
Connor, president of the National
Council of Farmer Cooperatives.
“Once the bill is, hopefully,
approved by the House, we look
forward to working with the Sen-
ate to ensure that any final leg-
islation addresses concerns with
the FWMA and ensures the
future competitiveness of farm-
ers and ranchers,” he said.
The United Fresh Produce
Association and its members
have pushed for this reform
for many years, said Tom Sten-
zel, president and CEO of the
association.
“There remains work to be
done to address the industry’s
Cattle groups weigh in
on marketing legislation
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
A bill introduced on March
2 by Sens. Deb Fischer,
R-Neb., and Ron Wyden,
D-Ore., aims to restore trans-
parency and accountability to
cattle markets.
The Cattle Market Trans-
parency Act would establish
regional minimums for nego-
tiated cash trade to enable
price discovery and provide
cattle producers with more
market information.
Concerns over meat-
packer concentration, dwin-
dling cash trade and a lack
of transparency in cattle mar-
keting have been brewing in
the cattle industry for some
time.
But huge disparities
between boxed beef prices
and live cattle prices after a
2019 fire at a Tyson plant in
Kansas and during the early
months of the COVID-19
pandemic brought the sim-
mering to a boil.
The problem is 80% of
live fat cattle are sold on a
formula contract and only
20% are sold on a cash basis.
The cash price sets the base
price for formula contracts,
and there isn’t enough cash
trade for true price discovery.
The bill aligns with Amer-
ican Farm Bureau Feder-
ation’s goals and policy,
the organization said in a
statement.
“America’s ranchers don’t
control the prices they are
paid for their products and
those raising livestock have
legitimate questions about
pricing,” said Zippy Duvall,
OREGON TECHNICAL ADVISORY
COMMITTEE MEETING (OTAC)
When: March 18, 2021 -9:00 am
The meeting will be held
virtually and details on how to
join will be available
https://tinyurl.com/y55m4hns
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For more information, or to
arrange special accommodations
for meeting attendees, please
contact Julie MacSwain at
503-414-3250 or email to:
Julie.macswain@usda.gov
EO Media Group File
Legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate addresses
price discovery for cattle.
Farm Bureau president.
When the pandemic hit,
meat prices at grocery stores
went up while the prices paid
to ranchers fell through the
floor, he said.
“This legislation will
ensure farmers and ranch-
ers have fair access to mar-
kets and are fully informed
on pricing so they can con-
tinue to put food on the table
in homes across the country,”
he said.
National
Cattlemen’s
Beef Association supports
LEGAL
Request for Proposals
Fiscal Year
July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022
The Oregon Beef Council is
Soliciting proposals for projects
In the following areas:
• Positive Producer Image
• Studying Legislation
• Education related to beef
• Generic promotion of beef
Any individual or organization
may propose projects in any of
the categories listed above.
Projects must meet the Beef
Council’s mission of enhancing
the beef industry’s image of
profitability of Oregon’s beef
industry.
Approved projects
must comply with the
Beef Promotion and Research Act
and O.R.S. 577.
To present a proposal you
must complete and submit an
Authorization Request Form by
March 26, 2021 at 4:00 pm.
Download an Authorization
Request Form from orbeef.org or
by contacting the Oregon Beef
Council office
503-274-2333 or via email at
Julie@orbeef.org.
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a voluntary approach to
increase negotiated trade
and has put a framework in
place to establish bench-
marks in different regions of
the country.
It opposes mandatory
minimums but will seek
solutions through USDA or
Congress if the voluntary
effort fails.
labor challenges, but this bill
is an integral first step towards
achieving our ultimate goal,” he
said.
The bill is “the culmination of
nearly a decade of negotiations
between key stakeholders and
represents an important first step
toward resolving, once and for
all, one of the biggest challenges
facing American farmers,” said
Dave Puglia, president and CEO
of Western Growers.
“We recognize that there is
more work to be done, but this
marks a major step forward,” he
said.
The legislation is a necessary
and first step in addressing the
labor crisis in agriculture, said
Jim Bair, president and CEO of
U.S. Apple Association.
“The current system causes
an unstable situation for not only
apple growers, but for all farmers
who depend on immigrant labor
to bring Americans healthy and
affordable food,” he said.
For decades, National Milk
Producers Federation has fought
hard for agricultural labor
reform, said Jim Mulhern, the
federation’s president and CEO.
“This bipartisan bill takes a
significant step toward ultimately
addressing through legislation
the workforce crisis plaguing
American agriculture,” he said.
The U.S. pork industry is suf-
fering from a serious labor short-
age, negatively impacting farms
and processing plants, said Jen
Sorensen, president of National
Pork Producers Council.
“Unfortunately, the current
H-2A visa program is designed
for seasonal agriculture, ignor-
ing the needs of U.S. pork pro-
ducers and other year-round live-
stock farmers,” she said.
NW onion prices, shipments mixed
in a serious transportation crisis, too,” he
said. “We’ve got all kinds of orders and
no kinds of trucks. But hopefully with bet-
Northwest onion shipment volumes and ter weather across the country, it will even
prices are mixed compared to a year ago, itself back out.”
National Onion Association Execu-
when the first wave of COVID-19 disrup-
tive Vice President Greg
tions hit.
Yielding said more than
Shipments
from
20% of the Texas crop
the southwestern Ida-
ho-southeastern Oregon
was
storm-damaged.
The state is a big sup-
growing region were up
plier of fresh and sweet
12.2% to 23,679 for the
onions.
season to date through
Onion stocks are
March 1, according to the
dropping around the
USDA Agricultural Mar-
keting Service. A ship-
Idaho and Malheur County Onion Growers U.S, he said.
ment is 400 cwt.
The inland Northwest, includ-
“Demand is bet-
Shipments from the ing the southeastern Ore- ter, and a lot of that is
Columbia Basin of Wash- gon-southwestern Idaho grow- because there has been
ington and Oregon were ing region, is a major U.S. onion more of an opening up
producer.
of the foodservice sec-
down 3.72% to 24,447.
tor,” the Colorado-based
A 50-pound sack
Yielding said. “And there
of jumbo yellow Span-
ish hybrid onions from the Idaho-Oregon continues to be good retail sales.”
Foodservice improvement is important
region March 1 sold for $6 to $7, the same
in part because it helps re-establish “a home
range as a year ago.
Columbia Basin jumbo yellow hybrids for those larger onions” harder to move at
sold for $5 to $6; a year ago, they were $5 retail, he said. The inland Northwest is a
major U.S. producer of large onions.
to $5.50.
Shipments of the fall 2020 crop have
Kay Riley, general manager of Snake
River Produce in Nyssa, Ore., near the been above year-earlier levels consistently.
Idaho border, said prices have been “pretty Shipping started early, and initial demand
exceeded expectations — helped by “a
low” but are improving slightly.
Crop-damaging weather in Texas in pipeline that was fairly empty” and restau-
mid-February boosted prices, “but we are rants offering take-out, he said.
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Capital Press
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