Syngenta Spends on Training-Fines and Mexican Sugar Watch

Syngenta Spends on Training-Fines and Mexican Sugar Watch

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
From the Ag Information Network, I'm Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.

**Syngenta will spend $400,000 on training to help growers in Hawaii comply with farmworker protection standards, as part of a settlement with the EPA.

Agri-Pulse reports the company also agreed to pay a fine of $150,000 for what it termed a "worker re-entry incident" that occurred at its former Syngenta-Hawaii farms, now owned by Hartong Brothers.

In the January 2016 incident, 19 workers entered a field 20 hours after it had been sprayed. The re-entry interval is 24 hours.

https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/10604-syngenta-to-create-training-materials-as-part-of-settlement

**Mexican sugar farmers, U.S. refiners and the U.S. food sector have a lot riding on the current efforts to renegotiate NAFTA.

USDA's Jason Hafemeister tells Agri-Pulse the complex arrangement allowing Mexican sugar to flow into the U.S. is based on an original side deal made when NAFTA was first implemented 24 years ago.

Industry reps agree if the U.S. were to pull out of NAFTA, the flow of Mexican sugar to the U.S. could be severely restricted.

https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/10602-sugar-sector-has-a-lot-riding-on-nafta-success

**The Fair Agricultural Reporting Method, or FARM Act, was introduced Tuesday, co-sponsored by 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans, including Kansas Republican Pat Roberts, chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

Roberts tells Agweb.com recent court action has delayed the reporting requirements from taking effect until May 1, allowing time for Congress to craft a legislative solution to protect farmers and ranchers who were never intended to be subject to this requirement.

https://www.agweb.com/article/farm-act-introduced-to-help-livestock-farmers-and-ranchers/

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