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Provisions in a Labor Department rule addressing the treatment and pay of H-2A farmworkers have been enjoined by a federal judge who ruled Monday the department exceeded its authority or did not adequately explain why it was changing its regulations.

Farmworker wages rose 3.2% nationally this year from 2023, according to an American Farm Bureau Foundation analysis of USDA’s Farm Labor Survey, which is used to set H-2A minimum wage rates. 

The chairman and CEO of Deere and Company, which has been the target of tariff threats by President-elect Donald Trump, touted his company’s long history of manufacturing farm equipment in the United States and exporting it to other countries on an earnings call Thursday.

The departments of Homeland Security and Labor need to streamline their operation of the H-2A farmworker program both to facilitate electronic processing of applications and more quickly identify workers who are due back wages, the Government Accountability Office said in a report issued last week.

Donald Trump’s cabinet picks are coming fast and furious, but the ag community is still waiting for the president-elect to pick someone to lead USDA. 

Lee Zeldin, who served as a congressman from Long Island for eight years before leaving to run a tight but unsuccessful race for governor of New York in 2022, is likely to be the next administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending several measures to reduce the risk of farmworkers being infected with bird flu as well as testing of poultry and dairy employees who may have been exposed to the H5N1 virus, even if they do not show symptoms of illness.

Hurricane Milton caused widespread destruction to Florida’s nursery infrastructure and crops, including damaged poinsettia plants that could lead to holiday season shortages. 

A train derailment south of Eagle Pass, Texas, is further complicating congestion challenges for agricultural shippers trying to send goods to Mexico.