ARLINGTON, Oct. 17, 2019 -- The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) this week unveiled a new safety training video, “Safety and Grain Quality Management,” that illustrates the connection between grain quality and safety. The animated video, funded by the National Grain and Feed Foundation, was launched during NGFA’s first-ever Harvest Safety Week, which is taking place Oct. 14-18. Working in or around a grain bin can expose farmers and workers to serious and life-threatening hazards, including entrapment and suffocation from engulfment. Historically, nearly 70 percent of these ... Read More
Subject-focused News
Mexico’s president pledges commitment to USMCA labor standards
Mexico committed in writing this week to pursue the labor reforms included in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wrote to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., on Oct. 17, detailing steps Mexico is taking to implement its labor justice reform law. In the letter, Obrador vowed to continue reforms to increase the minimum wage and “restore democracy” to trade unions. He also said the Mexican government will ensure the projects are sufficiently funded. “The labor reforms that are underway today…will ... Read More
NGFA battles RR Capitol Hill effort to undermine STB rail rate reforms
The NGFA this week worked to oppose a railroad-led effort on Capitol Hill designed to undermine the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) initiatives to implement meaningful rail rate reform. NGFA was alerted that Class I railroads had approached members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and House Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee, and perhaps others, urging that they sign on to a railroad-inspired letter to the STB urging that the agency incorporate “thorough cost-benefit analysis” into “any significant rulemakings, including any of the changes proposed in ... Read More
China: U.S. must drop tariffs before finalizing “phase one” trade deal
After the White House announced a “phase one” trade agreement between the U.S. and China, Chinese officials this week said the United States must remove existing tariffs before the two countries can reach a final agreement. “China’s position, principle and goal for the China-U.S. trade negotiations has never changed,” said Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng during an Oct. 17 press conference. “Both sides’ ultimate goal for the negotiations is to end the trade war, cancel all additional tariffs. This is good for China, good for the U.S. and good for the world.” Under the ... Read More
White House announces “phase one” of a trade deal with China
The White House on Oct. 11 announced a “phase one” agreement in principle with China. Under the tentative agreement for the first phase of a trade deal, China allegedly will commit to purchase $40 billion to $50 billion annually worth of U.S. agricultural products, increasing gradually to that level over a two-year period. Importantly, during a White House press conference, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer also said that the agricultural agreement will “correct a variety of sanitary and phytosanitary and biotechnology issues,” although he provided no details on what had ... Read More
Celebrate #Harvest19 Safety Week with NGFA
Next week – Oct. 14-18 – the NGFA will celebrate “Harvest Safety Week” by delivering safety resources particularly useful during the fall harvest to your inbox each day. All videos, safety tips sheets, webinars and other materials can be found on ngfa.org/safety. Use this opportunity to exemplify commitment to your employees’ safety by using NGFA’s safety materials and sharing them with #Harvest19 and #HarvestSafetyWeek on social media. In addition, share those materials that are appropriate with your farmer-customers. ... Read More
New executive orders address agency guidance documents
New executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on Oct. 9 are designed to ease the regulatory burden of federal guidance documents on agricultural operations and other businesses. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which had representatives at the signing ceremony, said the orders “will provide more clarity and transparency to often-daunting and complicated federal regulatory processes,” specifically referring to the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency. One of the executive orders states that “consistent with applicable law,” ... Read More
FDA: Eligible animal food facilities must submit “qualified facility” attestations by Dec. 16
Facilities that meet the definition of a “qualified facility” under the Preventive Controls for Animal Food rule issued under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) are required to submit an attestation form to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by Dec. 16, the agency said this week. In a reminder issued Oct. 10, FDA said qualified facilities are required to comply with the Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) requirements found in 21 CFR part 507, subpart B (and related requirements in subparts A and F). However, qualified facilities are exempt from the preventive ... Read More
STB proposes general policy principles to guide RR demurrage, accessorial practices
Agency would require rail customers to file individual cases to obtain relief By Randy Gordon, President and CEO The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Oct. 7 issued a proposal under which it would issue broad policy principles and guidance, rather than formal rules and determinations, to address Class I railroads’ demurrage and accessorial practices and charges. The STB’s 25-page proposal contains principles on seven broad topics concerning demurrage and accessorial practices and charges that the agency said it “expects” will “facilitate more effective private negotiations and ... Read More
Trump signs first stage of U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement
By Max Fisher, Director of Economics and Government Relations, and Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media, President Donald Trump on Oct. 7 signed the first stage of a U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement that will lower agricultural tariffs in Japan and industrial tariffs in the United States, as well as provide rules for digital trade. After Japan’s legislature ratifies the agreement, it is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2020. But the deal does not address autos, which have been a significant point of contention during negotiations, and the two countries still ... Read More
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