April 17, 2025

Lawsuit Filed on Trump Tariffs

The Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s authority to unilaterally issue the “Liberation Day” tariffs, which the Center says are devastating small businesses across the country. The lawsuit argues that the administration has no authority to issue across-the-board worldwide tariffs without congressional approval. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade, highlights the unprecedented nature of the tariffs, including a global ten percent tariff on almost all imports and additional higher tariffs on other countries based on foreign trade barriers. The President invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to justify the Liberation Day tariffs, as well as duties on Mexico, Canada, and China. The Complaint says the IEEPA doesn’t authorize the President to impose across-the-board tariffs and doesn’t actually authorize tariffs at all. “No one person should have the power to impose taxes that have such vast consequences,” says Jeffrey Schwab of the Liberty Justice Center.

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Mexico Confident It Can Renew a Tomato Agreement with the U.S.

The Mexican government said it will begin talks with the U.S. to renew a bilateral agreement on Mexico’s tomato exports. The U.S. government announced it is pulling out of the agreement. The U.S. pullout would mean a 21 percent tariff will be put in place on Mexican tomato imports on July 14. Reuters reported the U.S. Commerce Department says the agreement hasn’t protected domestic tomato growers in the U.S. market. The agreement regulates tomato imports from Mexico into the U.S., and the goal was to help U.S. producers compete on a level playing field. The agreement went into effect in 1996 and was renewed in 2019 to stave off an anti-dumping investigation and end a tariff dispute. Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum says that Mexican tomatoes aren’t replaceable by any other country’s exports in terms of quality or quantity. She also says that, without the pact, U.S. consumers would pay more for their tomatoes.

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Bayer May Stop Producing Glyphosate

Bayer says it may stop producing glyphosate, the world’s most popular weedkiller unless it can get court protection against lawsuits blaming the herbicide for causing cancer. The Wall Street Journal says Bayer currently produces about 40 percent of the world’s glyphosate needs, which farmers use to kill weeds that threaten their crops. Over the last ten years, the herbicide has also caught Bayer up in a number of lawsuits. In early March, Bayer told farmers, suppliers, and retailers that it may have to stop selling Roundup, which would force U.S. farmers to rely on imported glyphosate from China. “We’re pretty much reaching the end of our road,” Bayer Chief Executive Bill Anderson told the Journal. “We’re not talking years but months instead.” The USDA points out that more than 90 percent of soybeans, corn, and cotton crops planted in the U.S. are genetically modified to withstand the glyphosate-based weedkiller. 

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Bill to Delist Wolves from ESA Listing Advances

A bill is moving through the House of Representatives that would delist wolves from the Endangered Species Act, and it just passed out of a key committee in the House. The bill is sponsored by Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin’s Seventh District and gained approval from the House Natural Resources Committee. Tiffany introduced a similar bill last year but says he is much more confident about its chances of passing this year now that Republicans control the House, Senate, and the presidency. The bill is called the “Pet and Livestock Protection Acy” and will now head to the full House for a vote. Tiffany said in a press release that he’s excited about clearing the first hurdle in getting it before the House. Bill supporters include several of America’s leading agricultural groups and individuals, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the Public Land Council, and others. 

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White House Budget Proposes FSA, NRCS Closures

Reports continue to say the Trump administration is planning to severely scale back or end all funding for many of the key programs in the Agriculture Department. That’s according to White House documents obtained by Government Executive, which reports that the administration wants to cut workers and whole offices at the local level. A document from the Office of Management and Budget proposes fiscal 2026 funding levels that would gut research and conservation efforts and trim almost all program budgets across the board. OMB says many difficult decisions will become necessary to reach that proposed spending level for the upcoming fiscal year. The Farm Service Agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and USDA’s Rural Development employ almost 20,000 workers between them. One official who helps oversee the agencies said the proposed changes to the budget would lead to office closures at the local level and affect people face-to-face with farmers. 

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How Many Ag and Food Careers Are There?

The 2025 Feeding the Economy Report says over 47 million people in the U.S. work in the agricultural and food industries. That is 29 percent of the U.S. population, and that number may be surprising to people, depending on where they live. One interesting thing about agriculture is the sheer number of jobs that aren’t considered “ag” careers, which play a role in producing food and getting it to consumers. For example, ag business careers include everything from lawyers to human resources to office managers. There are careers in environmental services and natural resources, including careers like fisheries workers, ecologists, ethanol producers, and aquaculture workers. Ag mechanics are another key part of ag careers and include truck drivers, service techs, livestock haulers, and others. Food science is another area that includes careers like produce inspectors, food safety managers, dietitians, and many more. There are also many careers in animal and plant science.

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