The House Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on supply chain issues on Wednesday, November 3. The hearing, titled “The Immediate Challenges to our Nation’s Food Supply Chain,” will address the wide-ranging supply disruptions in the U.S. food and agricultural sectors.
The American Soybean Association led the effort for members of the Ag CEO Council to highlight agricultural supply chain issues to the administration. The council submitted a letter compiled by ASA staff and signed on by ASA and 16 other ag groups that was sent to the Department of Transportation, which has coordinated this effort on behalf of the White House’s Supply Chain Task Force. The correspondence outlines the most problematic areas for the ag industry, including transportation costs, labor availability, the global fertilizer market, and more.
The letter says, “The supply chains that are critical for inputs and sales of goods face multiple and simultaneous challenges, leading to higher prices for inputs, lower prices for outputs, and in some cases, the inability to purchase goods or services regardless of price.”
The Ag CEOs say the biggest challenges for the supply chain include labor shortages, congestion in trucking, rail freight, and the barges that haven’t recovered from Hurricane Ida shutdowns.
(From the National Association of Farm Broadcasters)