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January jobs report: Unemployment rate falls to 4%, wages rise more than forecast; Trump signs order imposing sanctions on International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel; Ten Commandments in public schools debate reaches South Dakota; Virginia ranks among worst states for wage theft; Mexican long-nosed bat makes appearance in Arizona.

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Attorney General Pam Bondi strikes a Trump tone at the Justice Department, federal workers get more time to consider buyouts, and an unclassified email request from the White House worries CIA vets.

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During Black History Month, a new book shares how a unique partnership built 5,000 schools for Black students, anti-hunger advocates say ag communities would benefit from an expanded SNAP program, and Americans have $90 billion in unpaid medical bills.

NE Farmers Union head on administrations' ag policy, impact

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Thursday, October 17, 2024   

Agriculture is the single largest industry in Nebraska and one that different administrations can impact differently. When Nebraska Farmers Union President John Hansen looks at the last two presidential administrations, he can see some of those differences, while acknowledging, "We work with whoever gets elected."

On two issues that impact agriculture, competition and climate change, Hansen sees significant differences between the Biden-Harris and former Trump-Pence administrations.

"In the competition arena, you got to give the Biden administration an A or an A+. I give the former Trump administration somewhere between an F and a D- on competition. Probably equal grades and differences in the recognition and treatment of climate change," he said.

Hansen says in 50 years of working on the issue, he's never seen an administration do more to address competition in the ag marketplace in a four-year term. When it comes to climate change, he says Trump's total denial of climate change causes him "really serious concerns."

Hansen called putting more C02 into the atmosphere tantamount to digging the hole we're in deeper, faster.

"We need to find creative ways to use American ingenuity and economic power to rethink energy production and maximize renewable energy development and minimize the release of stored carbon, which is what coal and oil is," he continued.

Hansen has extensive experience with trade and tariffs, having been a trade advisor with a top-security clearance under three presidential administrations. He said although they supported a lot of the "big picture" of what the Trump administration was trying to do with tariffs, it was hard to support the "go it alone" approach against China.

"Because we didn't round up our partners and our folks who have a common interest relative to trying to rein China in, a lot of what the Trump administration tried to do was ineffective," he observed. "It was ineffective because, among other things, Donald Trump doesn't even listen to his own advisors."

Hansen said the Biden administration's approach to tariffs, while not perfect, has been more selective.

"If you're going to turn the use of a tool that has this kind of impact loose, you really do need to have an informed set of public officials that help discuss these things and help calibrate what we're doing so that we're doing things in a thoughtful and coherent way," he added.

One of Hansen's biggest current concerns for the agriculture industry is the ongoing failure of Congress to pass a Farm Bill, which was a year overdue in September.


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