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Farming groups urge White Home action ahead of possible ports strike

Nearly 200 agriculture companies on Friday morning prompted the White House to attend to crucial U.S. farming supply chain concerns in the face of a prospective port strike on the East and Gulf Coasts that might start on Tuesday.

The groups said the industry is dealing with imminent and extreme delivering interruptions from a prospective work interruption, snarled rail lines and historically low river levels backing up grain barge deliveries and affecting trade with Mexico, according to a. letter evaluated . The groups asked the federal government to direct the U.S. Army. Corps of Engineers to dredge the lower Mississippi River to. keep 12-foot-deep channels, and step in to reopen the. movement of grain by rail from the U.S. to Mexico.

They likewise asked the Transportation Department to consider. issuing an emergency hours of service waiver for truck motorists. at East and Gulf Coast ports.

The letter, from a wide cross-section of the nation's food. and farm supply chain, said such disturbances are already. taking place ahead of a potential Oct. 1 strike at ports that. mistreat half of the country's ocean trade, including. consumer staples like coffee, meat and eggs. On Thursday, employers working out a labor contract at U.S. East. and Gulf Coast ports submitted an unjust labor practice grievance. versus the union, saying those leaders decline to resume talks. ahead of the threatened strike.

The United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) said it filed the. problem with the National Labor Relations Board, due to the. duplicated refusal of the International Longshoremen's Association. to go back to the bargaining table.

The six-year master agreement between USMX and the ILA. ends on Monday and the 2 sides appear to be deadlocked on. wage issues. Friday's missive highlights the growing concern among the. nation's agricultural sector. U.S. farmers are starting to. harvest what is expected to be a record soy and large corn crop,. at a time when global products are already significant and costs are. hovering near four-year lows. The letter likewise comes simply 2 days after some of the very same. companies asked the Biden Administration to take action to. avoid the possible labor strike, in order to prevent damage to. U.S. agriculture and the economy. These disruptions will have a ripple effect throughout the whole. United States unless the federal government acts, the letter. said. The White Home did not instantly comment. On the other hand, low water conditions on interior rivers have led to. barges running aground along a key stretch of the lower. Mississippi River and requiring barges to bring lighter loads,. just as the busiest U.S. grain export season gets underway.

(source: Reuters)