The New York Farm Bureau this week released its national legislative priorities, targeting legislation it says would help New York’s farmers and rural communities.
State Farm Bureau officials draft both state and national legislative goals annually. The priorities are based on member approved policies and approved by the farmer-member board of directors. The national focus runs a gamut from labor issues to trade and tariffs to taxes and regulation.
New York Farm Bureau President David Fisher outlined key national policies he says must benefit the state’s agriculture sector.
“The first one is ag labor. We want to pursue some meaningful reforms that help farmers meet their labor needs. We want to support efficiencies and modernization of immigration and labor regs,” Fisher said. “Of course we will continue to work for a modernized Farm Bill, increase come of the safety net features of those programs which due to inflation in the last few years have not really kept up. But also ensuring that New York’s unique ag industry needs are met in the Farm Bill.”
National Affairs Coordinator Ashley Oeser reviewed supply chain issues that include expansion of processing capacity and the use of biofuels to help ensure domestic energy production.
“Our farms continue to be stewards of the land and one way in which they showcase that is through converting raw plant materials to usable energy. Another way we often see on our dairy farms here in New York is through anaerobic digesters where they are able to convert animal waste as well as food scraps into reusable energy,” explained Oeser. “Our farms are eager to expand on those capabilities. We look forward to working with Congress to expand both the markets and farm support in the biofuel energy space.”
Oeser also reviewed the federal regulatory environment farmers work under and some of the changes the Farm Bureau is advocating.
“It is incredibly difficult for our farms to navigate the regulations that change often. Some of the ways that we’re asking for a reduction in regulatory burdens is through safeguarding the tools our farmers utilize to achieve their yields. We also look for clarification on many existing regulations,” noted Oeser. “In addition to agriculture, we continue to be the largest advocate for rural communities. We look forward to finding ways in this Congress to support broadband deployment in rural communities. We also look forward to repairing, rebuilding and modernizing transportation infrastructure to ensure our farms can safely continue their good work of transporting their goods to the next step in the supply chain. We also look for increased federal investment in agricultural research facilities who do so much for our rural communities.”
Although the federal government has slapped tariffs on imported goods from several nations, Fisher says the state Farm Bureau is seeking expanded trade opportunities.
“Great opportunities there as we look to expand trade opportunities for U.S. agriculture, promote fair trade with the U.S. Canada Mexico Agreement and reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers for trade. We’d like to see more engagement with areas like the United Kingdom and other nations,” Fisher said.
Fisher adds that Farm Bureau policy is to oppose the import taxes.
“I think there’s going to be impacts for sure. A lot of dairy cows are fed with canola that comes down from Canada, so that’ll be a tariff increase, I think. A lot of parts and farm machinery parts cross the border more than one time before they get to farms so there’s going to be for sure some impacts,” Fisher believes. “And as far as dairy I think we’ve got to just wait and see how some of these things play out in the details. It’s all about what’s exempt and what’s not. We had tariffs and then last week they rolled back the potash tariff, which mostly comes from Canada into the U.S. That was a good positive, but we’ll see how things continue to play out.”
President Trump has threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs on Canadian dairy products due to that country’s ability to impose a 250 percent tariff on some dairy products. The Canadian tariff, negotiated in the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Trade Agreement during the first Trump Administration, only applies if the U.S. exceeds a dairy export quota, which has never been reached.
