House Agriculture Committee holds hearing to consider producer perspectives on the 2023 farm bill

On Wednesday, the House Agriculture Committee Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities, Risk Management, and Credit held a hearing to receive input from producers across the agricultural sector on how farm bill commodity programs have worked for them. Representing rice was Mississippi farmer Kirk Satterfield. Of note in his testimony were commented on how Indian subsidization of rice negatively impacts U.S. rice producers. In response to questions from the Committee Satterfield suggested that an updated PLC reference price of $17 to $18 would more accurately reflect the cost of production of rice and that a PLC reference price for California medium grain rice should be a good bit higher. A recording of the hearing can be found here.

Resolutions introduced to repeal H-2A AEWR Rule

On Thursday, Congressional Review Act resolutions were introduced in both the House and Senate to prevent the implementation of the Department of Labor’s March 2023 Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) Rule. The AEWR determines pay for workers participating in the H-2A visa program. The resolution recognizes that the Department of Labor’s rule increases complexity and costs for farmers who use H-2A labor. In the House, the resolution was introduced by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) and Reps. David Rouzer (R-NC) and Ralph Norman (R-SC). The House resolution has an additional 54 cosponsors. In the Senate, the effort is being led by Sens. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Ted Budd (R-NC) and has an additional 26 cosponsors.