NCSL’s Ag Task Force Navigates Federal Tariff Policies

NCSL's Ag Task Force Navigates Federal Tariff Policies

The group's August meeting also covered the administration's health policy agenda and energy projects on agricultural lands.

Members of NCSL's Agriculture Task Force visit Boston Harbor during the Legislative Summit in August. (NCSL photo)

The recent biannual meeting of NCSL's bipartisan Agriculture Task Force in Boston convened a group of legislative agriculture leaders and legislative staff from 15 states and two Canadian provinces. The day included local tours and policy sessions covering international agriculture trade and tariff impacts, the growing collaboration between the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, and the intersection of agricultural land and energy transmission.

The policy sessions and subsequent discussions are key aspects of all Agriculture Task Force meetings, which aim to provide legislators with fact-based, nonpartisan information that they can use to develop policies tailored to their own state needs. The task force includes members from 29 states and a Canadian province and is co-chaired by Minnesota Rep. Rick Hansen (D) and Iowa Sen. Annette Sweeney (R). The task force helps develop NCSL policy, studies critical agriculture and rural development issues, explores policy options to address these concerns, and serves as a conduit for state legislative communication with Congress, the Agriculture Department and other federal agencies. The task force also can develop and recommend policy to the appropriate NCSL standing committee to guide the organization's federal advocacy work in Washington, D.C.

During the August meeting, NCSL staff briefed participants on recent congressional and administrative actions and provided a state trends report, which spotlighted patterns NCSL has tracked in recent state-level policymaking. Attendees took an in-depth dive into the current federal tariff policy through a presentation by DTB AgriTrade, a lobbying and consulting firm, covering the administration's actions, legal authorities and current and likely agriculture impacts.

A separate session, led by a staffer from the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, considered state opportunities related to agriculture and nutrition as the administration pursues its Make America Healthy Again policy agenda. Legislators and staff received a nonpartisan presentation about current agency actions and emerging federal priorities and themes, followed by a discussion of possibilities for collaboration and innovation.

The final policy session was delivered by a representative from the public utility company Ameren who discussed the ways energy transmission projects are proposed, sited and built.

Legislators toured two local facilities to learn about their operations, including Red's Best, a local market wholesaler for commercial fishing businesses, and Green City Growers, an urban farming company. During the tours, lawmakers discussed sustainable fishing, impacts of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the fishing workforce, small-business challenges, agricultural education, aquaponics, urban agriculture and more.

The task force meets again in July 2026.

Megan Bland is an associate legislative director in NCSL's State-Federal Relations Division.