During CONVEY ’18 this summer, Eric Conn, a founding partner of Conn Maciel Carey in Washington, D.C., and chair of the firm’s national OSHA Workplace Safety Practice Group, will provide a thorough overview of the most important aspects of an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspection. CONVEY ’18, hosted by the NGFA and Grain Journal Magazine, is to be conducted July 25-26 at the Hilton Omaha hotel in Omaha, Neb., where speakers and attendees will focus on operations, compliance and grain quality issues facing the grain, feed and processing ... Read More
Newsletter
NGFA gathers congressional support for FSMA exemptions
The NGFA is urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to properly implement the exemption authority provided within the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) for grain elevators solely engaged in storing raw agricultural commodities. The Association has been circulating information on Capitol Hill in recent weeks to garner support from lawmakers. Specifically, the NGFA is urging FDA to revise its FSMA exemptions for “solely engaged” grain elevator facilities and exemptions for grain elevators that store pulse crops. The paragraphs below summarize two significant problems with FDA’s rules ... Read More
House passes water resources infrastructure bill
The House on Wednesday (June 6) overwhelmingly approved the Water Resources Development Act of 2018 (WRDA), H.R. 8, the first major infrastructure legislation to move under the Trump administration. WRDA focuses on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, authorizing new projects and permitting the full use of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) to finance port dredging and other port projects. The House-passed WRDA would accomplish the latter objective by moving the HMTF off-budget to allow for full-use of HMTF funds to be used solely for harbor-maintenance purposes. The bill ... Read More
Trade roller coaster continues
It continues to be an up-and-down roller coaster ride for trade. A U.S. trade delegation returned from China and met with President Trump on June 5 on a reported offer from China to purchase up to $70 billion in American agricultural and energy products, as well as some manufactured goods, over the next year. The U.S. delegation was led by Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney, and Gregg Doud, chief agricultural negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. There were no reports on ... Read More
Deadline to complete Census of Agriculture questionnaire is June 15
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is wrapping up data collection for the 2017 Census of Agriculture. To stay on track for data release in February 2019, the deadline for submitting the paper questionnaire is June 15, 2018. Farmers and ranchers who have not responded by June 15, 2018 still have until the end of July to complete the Census online at www.agcensus.usda.gov. “The Census of Agriculture provides the only source of comprehensive agricultural data for every state and county in the nation,” said USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue in ... Read More
DOT provides regulatory guidance on transportation of agricultural commodities
By Max Fisher, Director of Economics and Government Relations The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on May 31 issued a regulatory guidance clarifying the agricultural commodity exception to the hours-of-service regulations. Under the exception, agriculture haulers operating within 150 air-miles of the source of their agricultural products do not have to comply with hours-of-service regulations, including the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) rule. The exception applies to the transportation of non-processed food, feed, fiber, or livestock and insects and will be relied upon ... Read More
NGFA unveils new grain bin entry safety video
In the NGFA’s latest training video, join Manager of Education, Training and Regulatory Affairs Jim Seibert to brush up on the basic safety precautions and equipment needed to enter a grain bin. This short video breaks down each step of the process to ensure managers and employees don’t miss a step and stay safe every day. Engulfment is one of the leading types of fatalities inside a grain bin; however, there are numerous industry and Occupational Safety and Health Administration resources available to assist in preventing future incidents. This video summarizes some critical aspects of safe ... Read More
Member Update: NGFA members will have new communications options and personalized online profiles
The NGFA is installing a new membership database that has important new features that will benefit those who work for NGFA-member companies. What does that mean for you? Personal member profiles Each employee of an NGFA-member company will have access to establish and update a personal online profile. You will be receiving an email from NGFA asking that you update your profile with your correct email address, company and other contact information. Your log-in name will be preset as your email address, and you will be able to create your own individual password to access your profile ... Read More
China’s biotech approval system cost U.S. $5 billion in farm income, says Informa analysis
China’s approval process for bioengineered agricultural crops is costing the U.S. economy billions of dollars in lost sales, according to an analysis released May 30 by Informa Agribusiness Consulting. The report, commissioned by CropLife International, was issued as the United States and China prepare for another round of trade consultations. The report, The Impact of Delays in Chinese Approvals of Biotech Crops, quantifies the economic impact due to the delayed availability of new biotech products for farmers in major biotechnology cultivation countries, including the United States ... Read More
Trump announces intent to impose tariffs on China as U.S. trade team prepares to arrive
The White House on May 29 issued a two-page statement announcing the Trump administration’s intent to impose 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion worth of goods imported by the United States from China by mid- to late-June. The announcement occurred as Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross was scheduled to depart for Beijing, China, on June 2 to resume high-level consultations with Chinese government officials on increasing purchases of U.S. agricultural and energy products. During a farm bill forum in Kansas on May 30, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue referred to Ross’s upcoming mission ... Read More
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