Western Growers’ Dave Puglia previews effect of election
World trade, farm labor and even the National Organic Program could see major changes under a new administration in Washington, D.C., according to Dave Puglia, president and CEO of Western Growers.
Puglia spoke during an online Fresh Produce & Floral Council event on Oct. 1.
He looked at several areas that could affect agriculture if there’s an administration change at the White House.
“This administration, like the prior one, has been very aggressive in setting policy through executive action,” he said.
If Joe Biden wins the November election, several policies would be subject to being “flipped around,” Puglia said.
One would be water supply regulations.
The Endangered Species Act was aggressively applied in 2008 to operations in California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region by the Obama administration, he said, and that had “not an insignificant impact on agricultural operations.” President Donald Trump’s administration has done the same in the opposite direction.
If Biden wins, his administration “would begin to unwind and reverse course on those water supply policies that the Trump administration has put in place,” he said.
Puglia said potential changes to the H-2A program could have a “really big bottom-line impact.”
H-2A remains “hard to utilize,” but it has been streamlined under the Trump administration, he said.
“I think we would see a gumming up of the works in the H-2A program,” if Biden becomes president, Puglia said.
Trade policy is another area of concern.
The U.S. trade war with China has not been good for U.S. produce grower-shippers, who have lost market access and market share in China and other regions, he said.
Some relief came with the Phase 1 trade agreement with China, but Puglia questioned whether, even if a phase 2 agreement is reached, U.S. growers will be able to regain market share.
Puglia said he has “no idea” how that might change if Biden is elected, but he said, “It’s really hard for either party to go backwards now and suggest that we’ve been too harsh on China.”
“China is both one of the biggest potential impact issues that a change in administrations could affect and also one of the most uncertain,” he said.
The Trump administration has other important bilateral trade agreements in the offing that could affect agriculture, including with the United Kingdom, the European Union, India and Japan, Puglia said.
The National Organic Program could be affected by a change in administrations as well.
“There has been a push to make the National Organic Program more pure by folks who are very committed to ‘the organic movement,’” Puglia said.
A Biden administration might move more aggressively in that direction than the Trump administration.
“That could have a very serious impact, one I think our industry could adapt to,” he said. “But it could create some pressure on the marketing of organic products around the country.”
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