Rep. Fischbach Introduces the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act to Deliver Long-Overdue Relief to Western Minnesota Farmers

Jul 08, 2026

Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach (MN-07) joined House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson last week as an original cosponsor of the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act. This legislation modernizes the H-2A agricultural worker program, delivering labor flexibility and financial predictability to agricultural producers.

"Our hard-working farmers should not have to fight through mountains of federal red tape just to feed and fuel our country," said Rep. Fischbach. "Rigid and outdated H-2A program requirements have ignored the realities of modern farming, leaving our local ag economy without a strong workforce. This producer-backed bill answers the calls of our farmers by cutting compliance costs and establishing a stable, predictable framework so our agricultural community can thrive."

“There is no greater national security threat than disruptions to our food supply,” Rep. Thompson said. “The Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act of 2026 makes the practical, commonsense reforms required to prevent these disruptions by providing a workforce that meets agriculture’s needs—now and in the future.”

The Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act includes several reforms specifically designed to alleviate the agriculture workforce constraints by:

Extending the length of H-2A temporary worker definitions to 350 days. This expansion is the critical step needed for dairy, poultry, and specialty crop operations to qualify for the H-2A program.

Source : house.gov

Video: How American Farmers Harvest 1.15 Billion Pounds of Sunflowers

Across the open plains of North Dakota and South Dakota, sunflower fields turn the American landscape into a sea of gold. In this farming documentary, we go inside modern sunflower farming to see how farmers plant, grow, harvest, clean, dry, process, and transform sunflower seeds into valuable products used every day.

In 2024, American farmers harvested about 1.15 billion pounds of sunflowers. This video follows the full journey from warm spring planting to combine harvesting, seed cleaning, storage, oil extraction, refining, roasting, packaging, and animal feed production.

You will see how sunflower seeds are processed into cooking oil, roasted snacks, bakery ingredients, birdseed, livestock feed, and useful byproducts. From golden fields to modern processing plants, this is the story of how a beautiful flower becomes one of America’s important oilseed crops.

Watch until the end to discover how sunflower farming connects farmers, machines, factories, food production, and sustainable agriculture.