Manitowoc County’s agricultural educator is addressing migrant workers and tariffs in the ag industry.
Angie Ulness addressed what is happening with migrant workers in the county on WOMT’s Be My Guest yesterday (April 3rd).
She says there are groups that are working with dairy farmers to give them material to hand out to employees about what to do if ICE or Immigration and Customs Enforcement confronts an employee.
“Ultimately, a lot of the workforce in our county that are working on dairy farms are Hispanic and they are legal, and they have papers,” she explained. “So, I believe that everything is going okay so far.”
She didn’t specifically say what groups are working with the farmers.
On the topic of tariffs, Ulness says what happens remains to be seen.
President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he is imposing a baseline of 10% tariffs on goods imported from all foreign countries.
The tariffs take effect tomorrow (April 5th).
Ulness says it’s not known if there will be an increase in prices for products, but the tariffs are supposed to promote US-based products to be sold.
However:
“It’s looking like machinery prices could go up,” she said. “Looks like maybe the exports of what we’re going to do with retaliation tariffs could change the way the markets are. I think we are in a time of uncertainty, we don’t know yet.”
Trump called the tariff signing a “Liberation Day” for the US, saying other countries have taken so much of the wealth away.
