Forest Cuts and Labor Uncertainty in Ag

The Trump administration said ag would be exempt from immigration raids, then said “no amnesty” will be shown for those employed in agriculture.

Agri-Pulse Newsmakers spoke with Rep. Andrea Salinas, a Democratic Congresswoman representing Oregon’s Willamette Valley, about the strain this uncertainty is putting on her district’s producers, as well as how staff reductions at the Forest Service could impact wildfire fighting abilities.

Then, Rebeckah Adcock with the International Fresh Produce Association discussed her industry’s trade concerns as President Trump’s reciprocal tariff rate increase looms on August 1, and Michael Marsh with the National Council of Agricultural Employers discussed what he’s hearing about ICE raids of agricultural businesses across the U.S.

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Please note: This transcript has not been edited.

Lydia Johnson: Welcome to “Agri-Pulse Newsmakers”, where we aim to take you to the heart of Ag policy. I’m your host, Lydia Johnson. Our guest this week is Oregon Congresswoman Andrea Salinas, who joins us to discuss Ag labor, Forest Service staff reductions, and the Skinny Farm Bill.

But first, here’s this week’s headlines.

AG Secretary Brooke Rollins released a plan aimed at improving USDA’s response to foodborne illness. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced Tuesday that it wants to speed up its Listeria testing method at a new food safety laboratory in Normandy, Missouri. It also hopes to perform more in-person food safety assessments, collect new data from inspectors on Listeria risk factors at plants, and provide $14.5 million in funding to support state meat and poultry inspection programs. 29 states currently have cooperative agreements with FSIS, allowing them access to state meat or poultry inspection programs. FSIS plans to sign new agreements with all 29 states this year.

Kansas Senator Roger Marshall hosted the first “Make America Healthy Again” round table on Capitol Hill this week with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and 10 additional speakers. During the discussion focused on soil health, speakers called for increasing use of precision agriculture technology and expanding public-private partnerships to boost usage of conservation practices. In his opening remarks, Kennedy focused on the loss of topsoil. He dubbed modern farming practices unsustainable and dictated by federal policies. Farm groups have scrutinized the Trump administration for the lack of input they were given in the development of the first MAHA Report, which they say lacked scientific backing, criticized the use of crop protection tools in modern agriculture and clouds consumer confidence in the safety of the U.S. food supply.

The U.S. has withdrawn from a tomato suspension agreement with Mexico, paving the way for new duties on inbound tomatoes. Imported tomatoes from Mexico will face anti-dumping duties between 3 and 273% with most imports subject to a 17% rate. The U.S. withdrawal came in the face of intense lobbying from groups representing importers and growers with cross-border operations, as well as from lawmakers in states that benefit from imported tomatoes. American tomato growers, including the Florida Tomato Exchange, applauded the action.

The Trump administration has said that Ag would be exempt from immigration raids, then said that no amnesty will be shown for those employed in agriculture. We asked Congresswoman Andrea Salinas how her constituents in Oregon, including many specialty crop producers are being impacted by the uncertainty.

Andrea Salinas: They are feeling it right now. And they’re nervous about the ICE raids. We have seen some pretty high profile cases where folks locally have been in the Willamette Valley for years who have been really a pillar of their communities, backbone of the Ag industry, have helped a lot of growers get their start and taught them the ropes. And so, it’s been heartbreaking. And I think that the industry has really seen a workforce that is afraid and it’s putting a bit of a damper on their ability to continue to keep their harvest.

Lydia Johnson: And there’s been raids at different operations across the country. Have there been any raids specifically in your district or are you hearing producers saying that their workers are on edge waiting for what might happen with these?

Andrea Salinas: Yes, there’ve been very small and, like, targeted, I don’t know that they’ve been widespread raids, but they’ve targeted some more of the high profile members of the community, and that’s, I think, intentional. I called ICE and I asked them, how do you prioritize people? How do you and I, you know, and they did not have a lot of information from me. They basically told me that they get orders from the top. And then, they take those orders and then they go after certain individuals. And that was all the information I got in terms of how this prioritization was happening. Because like you, and like my conversation in the House Ag Committee with Secretary Rollins, I questioned her on this and I asked, and I pushed and I asked her, you know, “We understand that inputs right now are really hard for our growers, including labor costs, and if we start to arrest and detain those in our fields, what’s that going to look like for our growers?” And she said, “Oh, it’s only, you know, we’re really pushing that it’s only criminals and those with criminal activity.” And then the next day the President said, after Secretary Rollins encouraged him, you know, “Nope, we’re only going after those who have criminal activity.” And then the following day, it felt like all hell broke loose in the Willamette Valley.

Lydia Johnson: President Trump has extended the deadline for trade negotiations to August 1st. Given that your district produces many specialty crops, are your state’s producers nervous about finding markets for their crops as this deadline looms?

Andrea Salinas: Nobody wins in a trade war. And this isn’t, these aren’t, this isn’t even really trade. I keep saying that. I try to explain to my constituents. This isn’t trade, this is tariff dispute. If what President Trump wants is to isolate China or to bring domestic manufacturing back to the United States, there are ways to do that. And you can open up trade agreements, which includes so much more than just tariffs, which are the tax on the goods right back and forth. So, tariffs can be effective or they can be destructive depending on how they’re implemented. But right now, the way President Trump is taking this kind of completely reckless approach, it’s hurting my agriculture industry and it’s hurting our family farms.

Lydia Johnson: Due to federal downsizing, Forest Service staff has been reduced, including some employees holding red cards who support firefighting efforts. We ask Congresswoman Andrea Salinas from Oregon how these staffing reductions could affect firefighting abilities.

Andrea Salinas: First of all, you know, we do have a forest industry, a timber industry, and our forests need to remain healthy. And the same people that President Trump has called for to remove the fuel on the forest floor to make sure that our forests are healthy, he is now cutting, and you know, the Forest Service budget has been cut in half, and so that feels extremely harmful, and it’s more than just the forest and the health of the forest, but it’s also the agricultural products, right? We saw back in 2020 our wine grapes were so tainted that a lot of my growers couldn’t even use the product. Folks in my district obviously are really nervous about this as well, and it feels like a double whammy on producers at least in the Pacific Northwest.

Lydia Johnson: Budget reconciliation included some, but not all farm bill elements. And Chairman Thompson has said that he’s looking ahead to move ahead with a skinny farm bill this fall. What are your priorities, and what will specifically your specialty crop priorities be in a skinny farm bill?

Andrea Salinas: Well for me, I think I’ve been very clear that, you know, making sure that specialty crops have a crop insurance that work for all crops and for all acre size has been one for me that’s been first and foremost. So that has been a priority for me for a long time. I’ve introduced different bills to strengthen rural economies that will also help to fight climate change through sustainable forestry practices and different agricultural practices, but making sure that rural just also has what it needs. And what we hear a lot from my rural communities is that they don’t actually have the ability and the access to grants, to attorneys, to programs that maybe larger communities might have. But yeah, so making sure that specialty crops also get a fair shake in federal research, infrastructure, and mechanization funding as well.

Lydia Johnson: On budget reconciliation, you know, that included cuts to nutrition spending. Do you think that you and your Democratic colleagues will be willing to negotiate with Chairman Thompson and the Republicans on the Ag Committee to really get the skinny farm bill across the finish line?

Andrea Salinas: So what I will say is taking $300 billion out of SNAP is going to be really hard to get Democrats to the table, I believe. And so I’m not sure, and I don’t know how much we will see of the things that we want out of the bill in there. So if it is a skinny bill, I feel like it really has to be kind of a skinny bill. So with that, and then not getting Democratic priorities in the bill, it will be hard, it will be hard. But I always say I also came here to deliver for my communities, and I’m always optimistic.

Lydia Johnson: We’ll be right back with our panel discussion. But first, Allie Herring looks at New World Screwworm detections in Mexico in this week’s Map it Out.

Allie Herring: Livestock importers and feed yards have experienced some whiplash in the last year, as they’ve watched USDA shut down and reopen ports along the US-Mexico border multiple times in response to New World Screwworm. This back and forth began last November. The border ports closed when Mexico reported its first case of the flesh-eating parasite since the early 1990s in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. Livestock imports resumed in February only to be paused again in May as more screwworm cases were reported further north in Oaxaca and Veracruz. This newest case of New World Screwworm in Veracruz, reported on July 8th, has thrown a wrench in USDA’s plan to slowly begin reopening livestock ports along the US-Mexico border, which was supposed to start with the Douglas, Arizona port as early as July 7th. This most recent detection of the parasite is still about 370 miles from the American border. Eyes will remain on USDA in the American cattle industry to see investments into fighting this potentially catastrophic parasite, such as the plans for a new sterile fly facility in South Texas will be enough to prevent its spread. For Agri-Pulse, I’m Allie Herring.

Lydia Johnson: Raids of agricultural businesses have occurred across the country by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We’re joined by Michael Marsh from the National Council of Agricultural Employers, and Rebeckah Adcock with the International Fresh Produce Association this week. we’ll begin with you, Michael. What are you hearing from your members about these raids and why is it particularly concerning for the agriculture and food industries?

Michael Marsh: What we’re experiencing on the farms is that workers are frightened. They’re scared and they’re coming to work, if they’re coming to work, they’re distracted. And unfortunately, of course, if somebody’s distracted at work, that becomes a safety issue for the employer because you want your workers and your employees, your people, focusing on exactly what it is they need to be doing in the workplace. And unfortunately, if folks are distracted in the workplace, sometimes that leads to accidents in the workplace and you don’t want that either. So unfortunately, some of the activities we’ve seen taking place in different parts of the country, it seems like a lot of that’s been lately focused down in the Southern California area. But it is concerning and the use of social media by our people kinda spreads the word about what’s transpiring. We are very interested in some of the remarks made by the president, however, about figuring out a way or some kind of plan to perhaps help workers who are here. It might be an unauthorized status. What the contours of that look like, we’re really not sure at this point, but we’re anxious to work with the administration, both Secretary Rollins as well as Secretary Chavez-DeRemer and see if we can figure out, collaboratively, some way to make that work.

Lydia Johnson: And Rebeckah, the fresh produce industry is also very heavily reliant on immigrant labor. What are you hearing from your members and how is this uncertainty affecting your industry?

Rebeckah Adcock: The interesting thing about uncertainty and social media and rumors are that some are true and some are not true. And when people are in doubt, I think to Michael’s point, their hesitation is to, “Am I at risk?” Legal or not legal? Are there targeting things happening or are there not? And the default is not necessarily always in reality, sometimes it’s just to, what is the thing that makes people most fearful? And the consequence for our growers are that it is creating some challenges on the farm for people either feeling like they’re vulnerable or not showing up because they’re not certain whether they’re vulnerable. And so we are definitely feeling it, we’re definitely seeing it, but we’re also working very collaboratively with the administration to communicate who agriculture is, you know, why it’s important, why the farm workers that we have are important, whether they’re coming from another country or the few that are domestic.

Lydia Johnson: And Michael, one of the concerns from businesses affected by these raids and this in general is the validity of the E-Verify platform. So I’m wondering, you know, what changes need to be made to accommodate ag workers?

Michael Marsh: You know, it’s interesting, Lydia, because in the last couple of iterations of ag labor reform legislation that we’ve worked on, we’ve always had mandatory verify as a part of that. It was curious to me that we actually have seen some flaws within the system such as that packing facility, as I recall, in Nebraska, had some challenges with the workers actually coming through and passing the E-Verify, but at the same time, determining they were here in unauthorized status. So that, however, it is something that agriculture has offered in the last couple of iterations of different ag labor reform legislation, is that we would agree to mandatory verify on the farms provided we were able to get a program put together and passed by the Congress that would remedy some of the issues that we’ve got with the present immigration system so that we could always have a workforce and be prepared to put food on American tables.

Lydia Johnson: Passing Congressional ag labor reform has been a longstanding challenge on Capitol Hill. Michael, are you optimistic that this could be the Congress that it gets done?

Michael Marsh: Well, that’s a million dollar question, but I would hope so. You know, it’s in America’s best interest to not import a majority of our food. And unfortunately, as I think you’re aware, today, we’re importing more than 60% of the fresh fruit we consume, more than 40% of the fresh vegetables. And as a result of that them, we’re becoming more and more reliant on our foreign competition for food. And that’s probably not a very enviable position for the United States to be in when we’re the most productive farmland in the world. And, of course, we do have the agriculturalists that are the best in the world at what they do. So they need a workforce, we need a workforce that’s ready, willing, and available in order to be sure that we can still supply the American consumer with food produced right here in America.

Lydia Johnson: Rebeckah, transitioning to trade, President Trump postponed the reciprocal tariff rate increase to August 1st. What fresh produce products stand to be impacted most as we look ahead to this date?

Rebeckah Adcock: Well, you know, we’re still watching very closely for how products are moving across the North American continent, of course. USMCA for U.S. purposes, for the U.S. consumer purposes, is very important for food affordability and consistent access. So we’re watching that very closely. And as you know, the U.S. has kept all the terms in place for that, and for that we’re very grateful. Unfortunately, Canada has chosen to put some tariffs in place. And there certainly are some other tenuous, I think, tense negotiations on the larger economic issues maybe outside of USMCA with both Canada and Mexico. Moving perishable products across regions, within a country much less, regions of the world is always challenging. There’s very little lag time and delay in our systems. You know, we don’t warehouse mass quantities for long periods of time. So, you know, changes to tariff rates, changes to how we move those products within seasons, within regions is very important. So we’re just watching and keeping post contact with the administration on where we see impacts, where we see consequences. You know, if we’re worried that there are price or availability issues, you know, we would of course let them know about all those sorts of things. We stand by that we believe fresh produce and some of the more critical food products should be, you know, out of the tariff process altogether, not just for the US, but for other countries. It’s politically maybe not always as viable, because tariffs are tools to perhaps get a better deal for overall economic issues. But the foods and the nutrition that are seen from whole fresh produce products are critically important.

Lydia Johnson: Let’s transition to the Make America Healthy Again report, which the second rendition will be released on August 12th. Agriculture groups are continuing to make their priorities known before that date. What will the International Fresh Produce Association be pushing for in that report? And do you believe that agriculture interests have been, you know, more heavily considered as their gearing up and creating the second report?

Rebeckah Adcock: In response to what we saw in the May report, we expanded that and updated those recommendations to be even more precise and more relevant to the topics that the commission, they had put on the table for that report. Everything from how food is produced to certainly all the dials that the federal government can turn that can impact food and nutrition and health in a way that we know fruit and vegetables play a core and critical essential role. We, you know, believe that there’s so many more ways that the federal government in its piece of the feeding of the Americans puzzle can do everything from produce prescriptions, which, you know, there’s tons of runway there to expand and encourage through existing health programs how people have access or incentivize to eat more fruits and vegetables. We certainly know there are the feeding programs, either through school or through low-income assistance, where there can be some incentivized improvements on providing access there. We believe there’s absolutely some things that we need to talk about on how to ensure that the present is very focused, rightly so on ensuring that, you know, American products are placed first on American tables.

Lydia Johnson: I’ll be back with more Agri-Pulse Newsmakers. But first, Allie Herring looks at some of the U.S’s largest export markets that face tariff hikes in August in this week’s “Ag By the Numbers.”

Allie Herring: Some of the U.S.’s largest export markets face significant tariff increases beginning August 1st. These tariffs are under the new terms outlined by President Trump and letters he published to his Truth Social account this past weekend. In these letters, he warned EU leaders to expect a 30% tariff, which is 10% points higher than the 20% tariff on the blog he announced April 2nd under his reciprocal tariff plan. Before Trump began his tariff crusade, EU exports faced a 10% baseline tariff. The largest hike is for Brazilian imports, which now face a 50% tariff, up significantly from the 10% tariff announced in April 2nd. The U.S. Census Bureau reported over $42 billion in Brazilian imports in 2024, of which $7.8 billion were ag and food imports. Also beginning next month, the Philippines will see a 3% point increase to 20%, and tariffs on Japanese goods will increase slightly to 25%. South Korea is one of the few countries holding steady at its April 2nd tariff rate of 25%. For Agri-Pulse, I’m Allie Herring.

Lydia Johnson: Thanks for joining us for another episode of “Agri-Pulse Newsmakers.” Next week, both the House and Senate will be in session. The House Ag Committee will hold hearings Tuesday and Wednesday focused on innovations in crop protection and Proposition 12, respectively. Richard Fordyce, the USDA’s nominee for Undersecretary for Firm Production and Conservation will have a hearing before the Senate Ag Committee Wednesday. Tune in next week and check our website anytime for the latest developments on all things food, farm, and fuel policy. For Agri-Pulse, I’m Lydia Johnson. Thanks for watching.

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