farm labor
Ag trade is vital, says Farm Bureau leader a day before Trump speech
Farmers are among President Trump's staunchest supporters, and they have a response to his threats to scrap NAFTA and rewrite other trade agreements: "Without those global markets, our already-depressed farm economy would go down even more," said Zippy Duvall, leader of the largest U.S. farm group. "Trade should not be a dirty word," Duvall told the estimated 7,000 attendees at American Farm Bureau Federation convention, where Trump is scheduled to speak this afternoon.
Britain-EU break-up leaves farmers short of workers
The "Brexodus" — the British withdrawal from the EU — "is being felt particularly acutely in the agriculture industry, which relies heavily on manual laborers, especially from poor European countries like Romania and Bulgaria," says the New York Times. Thousands of foreign-born workers have left England, or have decided not to return to harvest-time jobs on farms or other industries.
Sponsor of ‘blue card’ farmworker bill will leave Congress
Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez, sponsor of a bill that would give legal status to undocumented farmworkers and their families, says he will retire after 13 terms in the House.
California court upholds mediation law for farmworker contracts
The California Supreme Court unanimously upheld a 2002 state law that allows mediation of deadlocked contract negotiations between growers and farmworker unions, including the power of mediators to set the contract terms, reported the Associated Press. The decision was a victory for "the union launched by iconic labor leader Cesar Chavez against one of the largest U.S. fruit farms," said AP.
Child labor on the rise in world’s rural areas
While the UN’s sustainable development goals call for an end to child labor by 2025, an official at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization says “child labor is mostly concentrated in agriculture and is growing,” reports Inter Press Service.
To meet farm-labor shortages, Idaho puts inmates on the job
An Idaho state lawmaker says she plans to sponsor a bill in the 2018 legislative session that would expand a program allowing agricultural businesses to use state inmate labor if they can't hire enough workers. Six businesses — two fruit companies and four potato-related companies — use the program now with a fluctuating number of inmates, varying from 150 to 261, at work, says Capital Press.
UFW settles suit with former field organizers
The United Farm Workers union, which represents nearly 10,000 workers, has proposed to pay $1.3 million in back wages, penalties, and legal fees to 24 former field organizers who sued the union in 2013, reports the Los Angeles Times.
House Judiciary chairman proposes year-round agricultural guest-worker program
The U.S. would scrap its much-criticized H-2A system of short-term visas for agricultural workers and replace it with an H-2C program that allows foreign laborers to stay in the country for up to three years under a bill filed by House Judiciary chairman Bob Goodlatte. The bill also would allow those laborers, for the first time, to work in dairies and processing plants. The committee is scheduled to vote on the bill on Wednesday, at a moment when lawmakers want to resolve the issue of "dreamers," youths brought illegally into the U.S. by their parents.
In extreme heat, farmworkers suffer, even die
When heat waves blanket regions of the country, an uncomfortable situation for many people can turn deadly for farmworkers laboring in fields. "That’s especially true in the Central Valley, where a major portion of the nation’s fruits and vegetables are grown. If farmworkers don’t drink enough water, are unable to take breaks in the shade, or simply aren’t acclimatized to working at such high temperatures, they can suffer heat exhaustion, heatstroke, even death," writes Ingfei Chen in FERN's latest story, published with Mother Jones.
DACA demise may not hit agriculture as hard as other industries
President Trump’s decision to scrap the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is unlikely to have a major impact on the nation’s agricultural workforce, says Capital Press, quoting an immigration attorney who estimates that “only 5 to 10 percent of the 800,000 people benefiting from DACA ... work in agriculture.”
Trump’s DACA verdict adds immigration to Congress’ already heavy load
President Trump’s decision to end DACA, the Obama-era program that gave work permits to children of undocumented immigrants, is likely to touch off a “civil war” over immigration among congressional Republicans, reports DTN. Trump urged Congress to replace the program with legislation before it expires next March.
Trump backs merit plan that halves legal immigration
Returning to a signature issue of his campaign, President Trump endorsed a Senate bill for a skills-based system for immigration that could have a distant effect on farm labor because it would halve the flow of legal immigrants. The Ag Workforce Coalition of farm groups said it "continues to work with key lawmakers on legislation that would address agriculture's needs" for a legal and reliable supply of farm workers with hopes the issue will gain traction in the fall.
Hand-wringing and hand-holding ahead of NAFTA talks
At nearly the same time Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue was calming fears of a downturn in U.S.-Mexico agricultural trade, some Mexican farm groups demanded that agriculture be left out of the "new NAFTA" negotiations that begin in 16 days.
House Judiciary chair aims for new agricultural guestworker program
During his time as House Agriculture chairman a decade ago, Rep. Bob Goodlatte says he learned firsthand that the H-2A agricultural guestworker program is outdated and should be replaced. Now the House Judiciary chairman, Goodlatte says he will sponsor a bill for a new guestworker program that, in addition to foreign workers recruited to work in America, could cover the tens of thousands of undocumented farmworkers already in the country — but with no pathway to permanent legal status.
Trump meets with his ‘friend,’ Mexican President Nieto, for the first time
While in Hamburg, Germany, for the G20 summit, President Trump met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, for the first time since the start of the American leader’s term. Nieto’s foreign minister, Luis Videgaray, predicted that NAFTA talks with begin August 16.
Farmworkers sue Monsanto in first-of-its-kind labor case
Two migrant farmworkers have filed a federal class action lawsuit against Monsanto, alleging that the company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Agricultural Workers Protection Act while the workers were employed in Monsanto’s GMO seed corn fields.
Orchard owners in China use drones to offset labor shortage
Farmers in part of Shanxi Province in northern China flew drones over their orchards to spray pesticides on the trees and saved money in the process, according to the state news agency, Xinhua. It quoted a 60-year-old farmer as saying the drones "are a godsend."
Trump seeks regulatory reform for agriculture
President Trump will sign an executive order today for a government-wide review of regulations, policies and laws "that hinder economic growth in agriculture," said White House agriculture adviser Ray Starling. Ag groups typically regard USDA as their advocate in the federal government and generally say their problems come from other agencies, EPA most prominently.
Judge blocks federal rule allowing H-2A workers to unionize
U.S. district judge Lisa Wood issued a 17-state injunction on Monday against a Labor Department regulation that would allow farmworkers in the United States on H-2A visas to unionize. The National Council of Agricultural Employers said the injunction was a victory for U.S. farmers and ranchers.