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Friday, Jun 26
Save US Farms
The Daily Dirt · 2026-06-24-morning

The Daily Dirt — Morning Edition

Federal wage cuts hammer farmworkers while courts block food restriction policies. The morning briefing on labor, food access, and the farm crisis.

The bottom line
  • DOL slashes H-2A wage floor: New federal rules let farmers pay H-2A workers 10-15% less in 2026, transferring $2.46 billion annually from migrant laborers to employers as wage methodology shifts from farm labor surveys to broader occupational data.
  • Federal judge blocks SNAP food restrictions: Courts struck down food assistance policies in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee, and West Virginia, marking a rare win for anti-hunger advocates fighting state-level nutrition limits.
  • Senate rejects Democratic SNAP delay request: The Republican-led Farm Bill advances without a delay to controversial state funding shifts for food assistance, leaving anti-hunger coalitions scrambling for other leverage.
  • USDA commits $105 million to screwworm research: Agriculture Department funding 40 research projects aimed at containing New World screwworm spread, while simultaneously importing 100 million sterile flies weekly from Panama and building a Texas production facility.
  • Meatpacker DOJ investigation intensifies: Federal teams have reviewed over 3 million documents and conducted hundreds of interviews examining whether Big Four beef packers have engaged in anti-competitive procurement and pricing practices.
  • Foreign-owned meatpackers at center of antitrust scrutiny: JBS USA (owned by Brazilian JBS S.A.) and National Beef (majority owned by Brazilian Marfrig) draw national security concerns as DOJ examines market concentration and price collusion.

Morning from the newsroom. Overnight brought cascading pressures on farm labor and food access: federal wage cuts that will impoverish hundreds of thousands of migrant farmworkers, plus a rare court victory for food security advocates that the Senate is now trying to work around.

The Labor Hit

The Department of Labor has rewritten the wage floor for farmworkers. Using a new methodology that skews lower than historical farm labor surveys, the new H-2A wage rules allow farmers to pay workers 10-15% less starting in 2026. The DOL estimates this will transfer $2.46 billion annually from H-2A workers to employers.

In Washington state, the entry-level wage dropped from $19.82 per hour to $16.53—a $3.29 cut that will cost workers roughly $3,900 per 6-month season before taxes, recruitment fees, or housing deductions. Across all 300,000 H-2A workers, that’s an estimated $4.4 to $5.4 billion in annual losses.

Food Access — One Win, One Loss

A federal judge blocked food restriction policies in five states, ruling that Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee, and West Virginia overstepped in limiting what foods qualify for SNAP assistance. It’s a rare win for anti-hunger advocates.

But the same day, the Republican-led Senate rejected a Democratic request to delay a controversial provision that shifts SNAP funding responsibility to states. That shift will force states to absorb costs that the federal government historically covered, putting rural communities and struggling families at greater risk of food insecurity.

The Screwworm Response

The USDA announced $105 million in funding across 40 research projects aimed at combating New World screwworm spread. Simultaneously, the department is importing 100 million sterile flies per week from a facility in Panama and constructing a production facility in Texas expected to begin operations in late 2027. It’s a massive investment—and a sign of how seriously USDA takes the threat to cattle herds already reeling from debt and record-high beef prices.

Antitrust Heat Turns Up

The DOJ and USDA joint investigation into Big Four beef packers (Tyson, Cargill, JBS USA, National Beef) has now reviewed more than 3 million documents and conducted hundreds of industry interviews. Federal investigators are examining whether the four companies—which collectively control roughly 85 percent of the U.S. fed cattle market—have engaged in anticompetitive procurement and pricing practices.

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins flagged foreign ownership as a national security concern: JBS USA is a subsidiary of Brazil-based JBS S.A., and National Beef is majority-owned by Brazilian Marfrig Global Foods. That creates a structural vulnerability in the U.S. food supply.

What to Watch

Today: tracking whether farmworker advocacy organizations can mount a legal challenge to the DOL wage rule before it takes effect. And whether the Senate’s food policy win will survive the full legislative cycle without being unraveled.

This is the Save US Farms Desk, morning edition. We’ll be watching the farm front all day.

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