April 2022 - 28

Potato growers focus on the future with '22 policy agenda
During this year's
NATIONAL
POTATO
COUNCIL
Kam Quarles
Chief Executive
Officer
Washington Summit
(Feb. 18-March 2),
potato growers from
across the country
joined the National
Potato Council (NPC)
in D.C. during a
tumultuous time for
our industry and our
country. The impact of
inflation on consumer
goods and ag inputs,
trade disputes with
important industry partners, and the war in
Ukraine were all on our minds as we sat down
to set our policy agenda for 2022.
Even with this challenging backdrop, the
group focused on a number of proactive
policy goals that deliver long-term benefits
for our potato farms and the families and
communities they support.
EASING SUPPLY CHAIN
CHALLENGES
The U.S. potato industry is dependent
upon an efficient transportation system
in moving product from the farm through
the supply chain to the end consumer.
Unfortunately, current supply chain
disruptions are creating severe shortages
of vital inputs for potato production and
inflating prices for those fortunate producers
who can secure supply. During the Summit,
NPC identified several specific regulatory
and legislative actions that could assist in
relieving some of the current bottlenecks that
are severely impacting producers, including
removing burdens on truck drivers and easing
the regulatory load of shippers.
The U.S. is suffering from a severe lack of
qualified commercial truck drivers, which has
a disproportionate impact on U.S. agriculture.
Exacerbating this problem are new Biden
administration mandates that greatly increase
the hourly burden on new drivers to obtain
commercial driver's licenses (CDL). In 2022,
NPC will continue to urge the administration
to reconsider the unintended consequences
of these new regulatory mandates and seek to
address safety through less obstructive means.
A related effort involves easing restrictions
of truck drivers' Hours-of-Service (HOS)
regulations, particularly during planting and
harvest seasons. NPC is advocating for
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Spudman.com
The NPC's Washington Summit and annual meeting is a chance for the group and its members to
review goals and take them directly to members of Congress. Photo: Bill Schaefer Photography
enhancing HOS rules to acknowledge the
unique challenges for transporting perishable
commodities and expanding the current 150mile
loading exemption to cover both loading
and unloading activities. Truck drivers should
not be penalized for encountering delays at
loading points or congestion at distribution
warehouses or port facilities. NPC believes
that time spent idling in a marshaling yard
should not count against HOS mandates.
U.S. potato growers are also pushing for
Congress to pass the Ocean Shipping Reform
Act (OSRA), which is intended to ease the
supply chain bottleneck at the ports. The
legislation is designed to reduce the burden
upon shippers who are suffering from supply
chain disruptions impacting intermodal
freight transiting through commercial
seaports. Currently, shippers are having to
pay daily demurrage charges (or monetary
penalties) for containers that are stuck in
seaports through no fault of the shipper. This
is costing thousands of unnecessary dollars
and keeping valuable equipment idle, thereby
driving up freight rates due to lowered supply.
The NPC-backed OSRA would prohibit these
types of burdens and utilize data to avoid
future bottlenecks.
ADDRESSING WORKFORCE
CHALLENGES
Your readers are acutely aware of the
challenges faced by agriculture to find labor
to plant and harvest crops. To address the
crisis, last year the House of Representatives
passed the NPC-supported bipartisan Farm
Workforce Modernization Act - the second
time it has passed the bill in consecutive
sessions of Congress. NPC and our partners
in the Agriculture Workforce Coalition are
now encouraging the Senate to improve upon
that bill and create the opportunity to secure
a long-term fix to this crisis.
We believe these improvements should
focus on providing U.S. agriculture access
to a guestworker program with the flexibility
to meet the current and future demands
of American agriculture that includes: (1)
a predictable market-based wage rate; (2)
responsive visa terms and no " hard caps " on
participation; (3) and reducing the costs of
program participation, among other priorities.
Additionally, the Senate should act to
stabilize the current improperly documented
workforce through a program that
incentivizes foreign-born workers to remain
in American agriculture. We believe these
pieces must be in place before any additional
enforcement measures can be implemented.
Mandatory E-Verify (alone or with an
" agriculture exemption " ) would be extremely
destructive to our industry and cannot move
forward without an ag labor solution.
These are just a few of the policy priorities
being supported by U.S. potato growers this
year. To find out more about how the growerled
National Potato Council is fighting for
policies that protect the long-term health of
our industry, visit www.nationalpotatocouncil.
org/advocacy.

http://www.nationalpotatocouncil http://www.Spudman.com

April 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2022