Workforce and supply chain issues tricky in rural areas during pandemic - Entrepreneur Generations

Though metro areas are seeing more coronavirus cases thus far, rural areas are still getting hit with supply chain and workforce issues.

It's planting season, and many farmers relying on foreign labor have been facing a looming shortage since the U.S. recently closed its consulates in Mexico on March 18. Consulates process migrant farmworker visas. However, after appeals from farm groups and ag-state lawmakers, the "USDA announced late Thursday that the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security have agreed to waive in-person interview requirements for H-2A and H-2B visa applicants," Liz Crampton reports for Politico's Morning Agriculture. "Demand for H-2A visas, reserved for agricultural labor, jumped 11 percent last year; H-2B visas, for non-agricultural temporary workers, is capped by Congress at 66,000."

The nation's food supply is fine thus far, but Gary Schnitkey, an agricultural economics professor at the University of Illinois, noted in a recent webinar that changing supply chain logistics will be an issue. Though there is plenty of food, people are hoarding some items, which creates supply chain issues, he said. And transportation and food industries will have to adjust to shifting food from restaurants to grocery stores, since so many more people are eating at home these days, Jonathan Hettinger reports for the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.

To hurry delivery of supplies, the Trump administration has suspended a rule that required commercial truck drivers to get a sleep break after 14 hours of work, Sky Chadde reports for the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2wz9pJo Workforce and supply chain issues tricky in rural areas during pandemic - Entrepreneur Generations

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