Washington, D.C. (November 4, 2021)—“I am disappointed that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) emergency temporary standard (ETS) on a vaccine mandate for larger employers fails to adopt several commonsense accommodations to recognize the unique nature of agriculture. While the ETS compliance deadline does take farmer co-ops past harvest and does exempt employees working exclusively outdoors, implementing this standard will be disruptive and it contains no provisions included to help ensure the integrity of the food and agriculture supply chain. NCFC will be providing formal comments to OSHA outlining our concerns further and will work with our members to look for ways to minimize the disruptions this ETS will cause to a critical sector of our economy.”
About NCFC
Since 1929, NCFC has been the voice of America’s farmer cooperatives. Our members are regional and national farmer cooperatives, which are in turn composed of nearly 2,000 local farmer cooperatives across the country. NCFC members also include 26 state and regional councils of cooperatives. Farmer cooperatives allow individual farmers the ability to own and lead organizations that are essential for continued competitiveness in both the domestic and international markets.
America’s farmer-owned cooperatives provide a comprehensive array of services for their members. These diverse organizations handle, process and market virtually every type of agricultural commodity. They also provide farmers with access to infrastructure necessary to manufacture, distribute and sell a variety of farm inputs. Additionally, they provide credit and related financial services, including export financing.
