Trump pitches plan to help undocumented farmworkers avoid deportation and become legalized to work in the U.S.

Roughly 500,000 undocumented workers fill labor positions
on American farms. (Photo via Progressive Farmer)

Since President Trump took office, many farmers have worried about the deportation of valuable, but undocumented, farm workers. Discussions yesterday suggest a go-around could be in the works. "Trump suggested a new program will be set up to help legalize farm workers and reduce the risk of farmers losing undocumented workers to mass deportations," reports Chris Clayton of Progressive Farmer.

Trump floated the idea during a Cabinet meeting, marking the first time he has shown "willingness to temper his mass deportation plans to help protect the labor pool for industries such as agriculture," Clayton writes. "Undocumented workers will be given a chance to self-deport and return to the country legally, Trump said. That should be an incentive for people in the country illegally to identify themselves under the Alien Registration Act with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol."

The plan would allow farm workers who register to "remain working on a farm -- at least for a temporary period," Clayton explains. "The president told Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in the Cabinet meeting that her department would work with farmers to help verify worker status on farms."

Trump explained the process at the meeting, saying, "A farmer will come in with a letter concerning certain people saying they're great, they're working hard. We're going to slow down a little bit for them, and then we're going to ultimately bring them back. They'll go out, they're going to come back as legal workers, OK?"

Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, responded to Trump's comments, saying: "We heard President Trump's comments about farm labor during his cabinet meeting. We thank the president for recognizing the importance of farmworkers and for considering the impact of the labor crisis in agriculture. We look forward to learning about the specifics of his plan. Every American is dependent on these workers to keep their families fed and pantries full."

The mass employment of migrant farmworkers by American farmers is real. Clayton adds, "A USDA Farm Labor Survey pegged the percentage of undocumented agricultural workers at around 42%, or roughly 500,000 people, working in crops. . . . To fill the void of assuring they have legal labor, farmers' H-2A programs have grown in recent years and now fill more than 384,000 job positions."

As U.S. cotton farmers continue to lose money, some may 'lose the farm.' A 2025 Farm Bill could help.

Cotton has lost market share relative to man-made fibers.

(National Cotton Council graph via Farm Journal)

A sour market and steep input prices may put some U.S. cotton farmers out of business. "Cheap cotton prices and dwindling demand are just part of the problem," reports Tyne Morgan of Farm Journal. "Input costs have climbed and there’s no safety net to be found from a new farm bill."

In decades past, farmers would often choose cotton over food production crops, but overall changes have made the crop an unprofitable investment. "With cotton prices falling below farmers’ breakeven, that crop is causing financial pain to even grow," Morgan explains. Franz Rowland, who grows cotton in Boston, Ga., told him, “There’s no farm bill to support us, and the reference price is so low that it’s not anything that we can depend on."

While cotton is a dependable crop, it's expensive to produce and harvest. "Cotton is a high input crop that requires a heavy dose of fertilizer and intensive pest and weed management," Morgan adds. "But in addition to that, today’s cotton farmers are dealing with the rising cost of equipment." A used cotton picker can cost around $585,000, but a new one retails for roughly $1 million.

The outlook for 2025 cotton crops is negative. The president and CEO of National Cotton Council, Gary Adams, told Morgan, "We’ve gone beyond just losing money now that we’re to the point of losing the farm. Unfortunately, where the industry is, that’s what it looks like as we’re going into 2025." Morgan adds, "There’s a lot to unpack in explaining why cotton prices are so low, but the biggest reason is dwindling demand."

Cotton's biggest competitor is man-made fibers such as polyester. "At the same time, big cotton producers, such as Brazil and Australia, are staring at big crops, which is helping global competition for the smaller market that’s left," Morgan reports. "China is still a larger buyer of U.S. cotton."

For now, U.S. cotton farmers are pushing for a 2025 Farm Bill that offers support. Adams told Morgan, “I just can’t state this strongly enough: We have to have a farm bill done by Congress this year that applies to the 2025 crop."

Without key personnel, dam safety may falter. Watchdogging reporters can help protect their communities.

Part of Oroville Dam broke allowing water to the right 
of main spillway to flow downstream. (Wikipedia photo)

The Trump administration fired the entire National Dam Safety Review Board, which provided federal oversight to ensure U.S. dams remain structurally sound and functional. Without key employees to inspect, maintain and run dams, they could pose a risk to surrounding lands and communities.

"When a major dam fails, people’s lives could be lost and property destroyed, writes Joseph A Davis for the Society of Environmental Journalists. "Right now the best hope many residents in harm’s way have for staying safe is watchdogging by environmental journalists."

Some dam details:

• The 2017 Oroville Dam crisis is an example of what can happen when a dam is compromised.
• The National Dam Safety Review Board is only one part of the federal dam safety program, which is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
• States regulate roughly 70% of the country's dams.
• Most U.S. dams are privately owned and state-regulated.

Story ideas:

• Take a look at the National Inventory of Dams and locate any “high hazard” dams in your state. What populated areas would their failure threaten?
• Find out what condition those dams are in. This may be harder. When were they last inspected and what was their rated condition? Can you get the inspection report? Try your state engineer.
• Do the high-hazard dams in your area have “emergency action plans?” Can you get a copy? Will the plan keep people safe? Who’s in charge of notification and evacuation?
• Who regulates and inspects the dams in your area? Talk to your state engineer.
• Are any of your area’s dams in line to get federal money via the Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, etc.? Is it being held up?

Reporting resources:

U.S. Society on Dams: A professional organization, nonprofit and nongovernmental, that shares knowledge about engineering.
Association of State Dam Safety Officials: A good access point to the many state-level officials, often engineers, who work on the problem of dam safety.
American Society of Civil Engineers: A professional organization of engineers working on all kinds of civil works, including dams.
Interagency Committee on Dam Safety: ICODS is “the permanent forum for the coordination of federal activities in dam safety and security.”

Even with tariff pause, plans to increase costs for shrimp imports give small coastal communities hope

Last year most U.S. shrimpers lost money.
(Adobe Stock photo)

Despite shrimp's jumbo appeal to U.S. consumers, American shrimpers have struggled to compete with imported, farmed shrimp. Tariffs and renewed trade negotiations with foreign shrimp importers may help revive American shrimping.

As this week began, shrimpers in tiny Bayou La Batre, Alabama, celebrated President Trump’s new round of tariffs, which "included countries that export most of shrimp Americans consume," reports Rachel Wolfe of The Wall Street Journal. "That included rates of around 26% on India, 10% on Ecuador, 32% on Indonesia and 46% on Vietnam. . . . More than 90% of the millions of pounds of shrimp consumed annually in the U.S. is imported."

The decline of U.S. shrimping came bit by bit as more imported shrimp entered the U.S. market. "Fishermen unable to sell their shrimp to break even on gas, labor and supplies have had to tie up their boats," Wolfe explains. "Supply shops, seafood processors, marine technicians and others in the industry have suffered, too."

For small coastal communities like Bayou La Batre, the loss of shrimping incomes has "cratered" local economics. Wolfe reports, "Income and sales-tax revenue in Bayou La Batre plummeted around 40% between 2021 and 2024 alone, according to Mayor Henry D. Barnes." Barnes told her, "People were looking to me for answers, and I didn’t have them. The city can’t put tariffs on foreign seafood.”

Over the past 20 years, the wholesale price of shrimp in the U.S. declined, but American shrimpers were still able to eke out a small profit. "In 2021, that changed as import prices dropped sharply, making it much more difficult for domestic shrimpers to turn a profit," Wolfe explains. "In 2023, domestic shrimpers operated at a net 3.7% loss on average."

Although the tariffs may help some shrimpers clear profits again, U.S. levies on marine goods could present new challenges. "Shrimpers rely on imports for a lot of their supplies," Wolfe explains. "Jeremy Zirlott, a commercial shrimper from Bayou La Batre, buys some of the webbing for his nets from India — which runs around $22,000 each year for each of his boats."

Even as Trump set a 90-day pause on the sweeping tariffs, the Southern Shrimp Alliance's response was positive. SSA Executive Director John Williams, echoed the hope some smaller coastal towns now have: "It is encouraging that the Trump Administration’s tariffs have prompted countries to show a new willingness to address trade policies disadvantaging American producers."

Rural areas struggling to provide local Emergency Medical Services use creative solutions to fill the void

Southern Henry Ambulance Service’s new hub is a barn in
Knightstown. (Photo by Grayson Joslin, Indiana Capital Chronicle)

The safety net local Emergency Medical Services provides to rural communities has been faltering, leaving some areas without an EMS team to respond to urgent calls. The shortage has some areas creating their own EMS solutions.

Residents of Knightstown, Indiana, have lived without an ambulance service since January 2023, when the regional ambulance service closed due to financial losses and a lack of volunteers. "The town, situated in the southern portion of Henry County, is 25 minutes away from the county seat, New Castle, which has their own EMS services and hospital," reports Grayson Joslin of the Indiana Capital Chronicle. "But sometimes the New Castle EMS may have other calls to answer, so it could be anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour for EMS to get to Knightstown."

Knightstown resident and EMT volunteer Kevin Richey decided to explore how Knightstown might develop its own EMS service. Joslin writes, "Richey asked around the Knightstown community to see if there would be support to create a new nonprofit from scratch for providing EMS resources. . . . Southern Henry Ambulance Service was approved as a 501(c)3 nonprofit in early 2023, and started a fundraising effort across Knightstown and on GoFundMe to get the service off of the ground."

Just east of Henry County lies Fayetteville County, Indiana, where over half of the population lives in a rural area. The county has its own ambulance service, but still struggles to meet its call volume. "The county lost its only hospital in 2019," Joslin explains. "This has put an additional strain on its existing EMS operations. Runs that used to take two to three minutes to make now take about 30 to 35 minutes."

Increasing local taxes proved to be a solution to some of Fayetteville's staffing problems. "In 2024, both the Connersville City Council and the Fayette County Council approved a 0.25% public safety tax on income to go toward providing more funds to the county’s various public safety services," Joslin reports. "Fayette County EMS chief Clint Hardin said the funding from the tax allowed him to give his employees a $5,000 raise."

While tax increases are often unpopular, they can finance local needs that most residents support. Hardin told Joslin, "What people kinda lose sight of is property taxes is the only tax that we pay that is 99% local. That funds police, fire, EMS, your streets, your parks, your libraries, your schools. You get to see the benefit of your tax dollars.”

A cold case of cows gone missing. So many are gone and rustling doesn't fully explain it.

The Uncompahgre Plateau includes about 2,290 square miles in five counties: Delta, Mesa, Montrose, Ouray, and San Migue. The San Juan Mountains stand in the background. (PeakVisor photo)

When nearly 200 cows don't come home, ranchers expect to find evidence that points to what became of their cattle. That just isn't the case in Montrose County, Colorado, where 187 cows disappeared without a trace and a comprehensive investigation yielded only more mystery.

A week before Thanksgiving 2024, the first losses were tallied: "Twenty-nine cows and calves, a rancher told a state agriculture official, hadn’t come home," reports Karin Brulliard of The Washington Post. "One week later, three more reports from three other owners: 46, 38 and 31 head of cattle, all gone. Three days after that, rancher Kelly Burch also alerted authorities. She had counted her herd and come up 43 animals short."

All of the missing cows spent the summer grazing on the Uncompahgre Plateau, "rugged country where some animals always fall victim to predators, illness or weather," Brulliard writes. "But never this many and not without leaving lots of carcasses behind. Also unusual: The vast majority were calves."

Location of Montrose County in
Colorado. (Wikipedia map)

With the demand for U.S. beef at near-record highs, Colorado law enforcement first theorized that the missing bovines were taken by rustlers. Chuck Searcy, who is leading the Montrose County Sheriff’s investigation, "spent the winter fielding tips about suspicious characters and even theories about alien abduction," Brulliard reports. "He is convinced it’s at least partially a theft case."

The state and county responded to threat of rustlers with a rigorous investigation "involving sheriffs, a multiagency task force, search planes, a $10,000 reward and a bull rider turned cowboy who has scouted the area on horseback," Brulliard adds.

But the cow rustling theory has holes. "No semitrailer could reach the hardscrabble, unpaved altitude where these cattle were spread, the kind of range even experienced ranch hands don’t know by heart," Brulliard explains. "Typically, mother cows separated from their calves would show distress. A mass die-off, perhaps from poison weed, would produce bodies."

Whatever the cause, the missing cows "raised alarm at sale barns across Colorado. At one of the busiest, Centennial Livestock Auction in Fort Collins, the brands of the missing cattle are posted on the bulletin board of inspector Jesse Phillips’s office," Brulliard reports. "In the meantime, the case got a break of sorts. Tony Mendes, a former pro bull rider, found 17 of the missing cattle. . ." still out in the grazing area. 

Read Brulliard's full story here.

Rural hospitals are receiving help from Microsoft to address cybersecurity risks

Most cyberattacks in rural hospitals are due to human error.
(Photo by the National Cancer Institute, Unsplash)

Cyberattacks are targeted at rural hospitals due to their lack of resources, old computers and a high probability of human error.

Liz Carey at the Daily Yonder reported that, according to a Microsoft study, cyberattacks are a real threat to rural hospitals. “In 2022, 44 attacks in Texas exposed nearly 6 million patient records.”

In an interview with the Daily Yonder, Alan Morgan, president and CEO of the National Rural Health Association, addressed the issue of cybersecurity costs.

“It is important to note that large, well-financed national health systems have to date failed to prevent cyber-attacks on their organizations, so for a small rural hospital, with far fewer resources, the issue is even more daunting.”

Microsoft’s Cybersecurity for Rural Hospitals Program is providing more than 550 participating rural hospitals in America with free cybersecurity assessments, training and discounts on security products.

“Officials with Microsoft said the goal of the cybersecurity program is to address not only immediate risks facing the hospitals, but to encourage broader systemic challenges as well,” Carey wrote.

U.S. dairy industry sees a positive side to new tariffs. Grain and soybean farmers share a pessimistic outlook.

Graphic by Lindsey Pound, Dairy Herd Management

The U.S. dairy industry says the new reciprocal tariffs announced by President Trump could end in a "net positive" for the sector, reports Rhonda Brooks of Dairy Herd Management.

Gregg Doud, President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, issued a statement supporting the tariffs: "'Tariffs can be a useful tool for negotiating fairer terms of trade. . . .We are glad to see the administration focusing on long-time barriers to trade that the European Union and India have imposed on our exports. If Europe retaliates against the United States, we encourage the administration to respond strongly by raising tariffs on European cheeses and butter. We also appreciate the president’s recognition of the sizable barriers facing U.S. dairy exports into the Canadian market.”

Krysta Harden, president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, "gave added perspective on the new tariffs being rolled out, " Brooks adds. Harden said, "A firm hand and decisive approach to driving changes is most needed with the European Union and India to correct their distortive trade policies and mistreatment of American agriculture."

A partial list of the countries and their tariff percentages to be levied include:

• China - 34%
• European Union - 20%
• Vietnam - 46%
• Taiwan - 32%
• Japan - 24%
• India - 26%
• South Korea - 25%
• Thailand - 36%
• Switzerland - 31%
• Indonesia - 32%

Grain and soybean farmers have a gloomier outlook on how the tariffs might alter their market share and future income. "During the 2018 trade war with China, U.S. agriculture experienced more than $27 billion in losses, according to the American Soybean Association," Brooks adds. "The association says the U.S. has yet to fully recover its former market share of soybean exports to China, the world’s No. 1 buyer of the commodity."

North Dakota farmer and rancher Chase Dewitz weighed in on the "pain" the new tariffs will cause agribusiness stakeholders. He told Brooks, "Everyone says, ‘this needs to be fixed,’ and then on the backside they say, ‘as long as it doesn’t affect me.' Well, it’s going to affect everybody.”

EPA cuts may leave rural towns with even fewer resources to combat extreme weather

Hills Creek Valley in Oakridge, Ore. EPA funds were
earmarked for wildfire smoke management. (Adobe Stock photo)

The Environmental Protection Agency cut $1.5 billion in DEI and Environmental Justice grants intended to help rural western communities combat ongoing extreme weather such as flooding, smog, drought and melting permafrost. Joshua Partlow and Amudalat Ajasa of The Washington Post report, "Residents and local organizations in these communities say the funding cuts undermine what little defense there is against growing climate threats."

The EPA initiated the cuts after President Trump "issued an executive order calling for federal grants to be terminated if they provide funding for programs that 'promote or take part in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives' or 'environmental justice initiatives,'" Partlow and Ajasa explain. "The recipients include nonprofit organizations, Native American tribes, cities, counties and universities across the country."

Each community planned to use the funds to address a unique set of environmental challenges. Some Alaskan villages sought funding to deal with ongoing coastal flooding brought on by melting permafrost, while Native American tribes needed dollars to address pollution, and mountain towns in the Pacific Northwest looked to use the money to assist with wildfire smoke problems. The lost support means all of these regions will have fewer resources to plan for and work through climate events.

Sarah Altemus-Pope, executive director of South Willamette Solutions, a nonprofit that helps communities with forest management, told the Post, "These were dollars that were going to really make a difference to people who are financially without the means to do this work to protect their health."

South Willamette Solutions held part of a $1 million EPA grant that would have helped seal homes against wildfire smoke in tiny Oakridge, Oregon, but the grant money was terminated. The Post reports, "The money, stemming from the Inflation Reduction Act, was intended for work on about 30 homes. The work included installing grates on attic vents to keep embers out and sealing doors and windows to keep out smoke."

Extreme rain, flooding and tornadoes hit the Midwest and South. Many swollen rivers have yet to crest.

Tornadoes tore through parts of the South and Midwest.
(Adobe Stock photo)

As storm after storm hammered the Midwest and South with torrential rain and flash floods over the weekend, thousands of Americans now face homes, businesses, roads and bridges that are destroyed or underwater. "The storm is expected to move out to sea by Tuesday, leaving behind enough fallen rain to keep rivers and streams swelling for days to come," reports Patrick J. Lyons of The New York Times.

Continuous rainfall left areas unable to manage the extreme runoff. "The area around Benton, in western Kentucky, recorded more than 15 inches of rain from Tuesday morning to Sunday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service," Lyons writes. Marlene Lenthang and Kathryn Prociv of NBC News report, "Meanwhile, in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, rising waters reached a substation, causing authorities to cut power."

Much of the damage "has been caused by floodwaters that overtopped riverbanks and levees, surged through streets and inundated the basements and ground floors of buildings," Lyons reports. "Some streams and rivers were not expected to crest for several more days. Stranded residents were rescued across the region."

The storm system spawned dozens of tornadoes, which stretched across southern Arkansas all the way into northern Indiana. Lyons writes, "There were so many reports of tornadoes that some Weather Service offices delayed confirming them. . . . At least 23 deaths had been attributed to the storm system as of Sunday evening."

FEMA moves to close its popular Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program

BRIC grants helped communities of all sizes prepare
for natural disasters. (Adobe Stock photo)

Despite the ongoing reality of extreme weather hitting communities around the U.S., the Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to end its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program.

"In an internal FEMA memorandum, the Trump administration announced its plans to dismantle that program — the biggest climate adaptation initiative the federal government has ever funded — even as disasters incur hundreds of billions of dollars worth of damages across the United States," report Zoya Teirstein and Jake Bittle of Grist. The billions of dollars BRIC grants provided were used to help cities, counties and states prepare for natural disasters before they strike.

BRIC was created in 2018, during Donald Trump's first term and its first round of funding was "launched in 2020, when Trump was still in office, and in 2023, the program awarded close to a billion dollars to scores of communities, states, and tribal nations across the country," Grist reports. "In January, before Trump began his second term, the agency opened its fiscal year 2024 notice of funding, with $750 million in matching grants made available to applicants from areas that received a major disaster declaration within the past seven years."

Commenting on BRIC's failure to meet the program's objectives, a FEMA spokesperson told Grist, "BRIC was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with climate change than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.”

BRIC's focus "on equity is what may have marked it for demolition — the Trump administration has been systematically dismantling Biden-era efforts to infuse equity into governmental programs and direct more climate spending toward underrepresented groups," Teirstein and Bittle explain.

From building culverts to protecting substations from flooding, the popular program helped communities complete practical but often expensive disaster preparation projects. Teirstein and Bittle write, "In fiscal year 2023, FEMA received more than 1,200 subapplications across all 50 states, 35 tribes, five territories, and Washington, D.C., totaling more than $5.6 billion in requests. It was able to provide less than a fifth of the money requested."

It's uncertain if current grants can be lawfully terminated. "A looming question is whether FEMA can yank grants that are being funded with money appropriated by Congress," Grist reports. "The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the bipartisan infrastructure law, allocated approximately $6.8 billion to FEMA for community-wide mitigation efforts, with a portion of this funding directed to the BRIC program."

Quick hits: The nuttiest ride on the road; be present for your neighbors; Roy the renegade farmer; heirloom seeds

The Nutty Cruiser is sharing joy and almonds as it tours the U.S. (Blue Diamond photo via Atlas Obscura)

You're driving down a lonesome stretch of American highway and there you see one of the wackiest rides ever made. It's Blue Diamond's “Nutty Cruiser” taking a road trip that celebrates everything about almonds. "This spring, a new giant food-shaped vehicle has rolled out of the shop," reports Anne Ewbank for Atlas Obscura. "The Nutty Cruiser, by the way, is a 20-foot-long almond on wheels." The Nutty Cruiser will be rolling down streets on this schedule. While you're at it, here's the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile travel schedule and the The Big Idaho Potato Truck travel plans.

The price of beef keeps climbing and meatpackers are doubling down to make sure nothing gets wasted. "U.S. meat companies are embracing 'white bone' programs, aiming to pick every carcass clean as they move down processing lines," reports Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal. "America’s cattle supply is at its lowest level since 1951. . . . That has helped push cattle markets in Chicago to a record high in January, almost 20% higher than they were two years ago."

The late Imelda Gorman knew how to show up for
her neighbors. (Photo via Hoptown Chronicle)

One of the best things we can do for each other is to be present during good times and bad. In her Hoptown Chronicle essay, Jennifer P. Brown shares an inspirational glimpse of the late Imelda Gorman, a woman who excelled at the simple act of being there for others. "Imelda’s willingness to show up was the quality that I most admired in her. Over and over, she was present for her friends and for her community in small everyday moments and in big milestone events. . . . . Imelda made many of us feel like we were part of her family. She left us with an important lesson. It’s simple. Show up."

Roy Pfaltzgraff tossed conventional agriculture practices out his tractor window years ago. His non-conformist row crop operation "is set to push even further to the blade’s edge," reports Chris Bennett of Farm Journal. "In 2025, Pfaltzgraff intends to begin installation of a full-time, on-farm education center. Annually, he has six to eight research projects across his operation." Pfaltzgraff told Bennett, "We’re going to build an online community, Seeding Circles, that teaches farmers where and how to find markets and brings buyers to growers. I want to show people a way to recruit food companies and know what’s being asked for.”

Heirloom seeds can bring new joy and richness into any gardener's plot. "Heirloom seeds are fun to grow, but more importantly, these old cultivars play a role in global food security," reports Lisa Prater Foust of Successful Farming. "Seed Savers Exchange, based in Decorah, Iowa, is home to the largest non-government seed bank in the United States. Members and nonmembers of Seed Savers Exchange can participate in a seed swap program, and many varieties are available for purchase online at seedsavers.org."

As winter fades and spring emerges, all of nature begins to change. And while many people welcome the fleeting time when spring blooms all around, all changes come with some degree of tension. In her story for Hoard's Dairyman, Emily Barge reminds us to intentionally look for ways to reduce stress and increase enjoyment in daily life with these five steps:

• Take a breather outdoors and make time for mindful moments.
• Spend a few minutes just talking.
• Find ways to prioritize family time.
• Take a moment to be proud of your hard work.
• Celebrate the small victories.