DAIRY
Bill would have enabled unions to bypass elections by urging the majority of a grower’s workers to sign cards.
The solution to the immigrant labor crisis lies in comprehensive immigration reform, California group says.
Georgia’s immigration bill will hit farmers where it hurts.
Working supervisors form the communication bridge between owner and workers.
Finding workers has become the number one concern for many local farmers. Tougher immigration laws, local people gravitating to other work, and the lack of an effective guest worker program makes filling the fields with workers more difficult than it was in the past.
Wisconsin’s status as America’s Dairyland was built on the hard work and perseverance of generations of family farmers. This industry generates $26.5 billion in economic activity each year and is interconnected with nearly every industry sector in our state. Every dollar of dairy income delivers an additional $1.54 into local communities.
As shortages of workers have intensified on Henderson County apple orchards and farms across the country, congressional panels have turned their attention toward proposals to fix the problem.
Florida’s fruit and vegetable growers say their biggest challenge is ensuring they have enough workers to pick their crops and get them onto grocery shelves."The whole immigration reform issue needs to be addressed at the federal level,” said Marie Bedner, whose family owns Bedner’s Farm Fresh Market west of Boynton Beach. “In Georgia, they had no labor to pick the crops. They rotted in the field."Two labor experts told Bedner and other growers at the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association’s 68th annual meeting Tuesday that if E-Verify becomes mandatory, it would be a disaster for domestic farmers. E-Verify is an electronic system designed to prevent the employment of undocumented workers in the U.S. through a cross-check of Social Security numbers and names.
Nov. 9 Webstream and conference call event helps explain the program’s “Know Your Rights: Employee Rights and Responsibilities.”
Aquila Farms ordered to pay nearly $3 million in penalties.
Paul Wenger tells congressional committee, “E-Verify without a workable, economical way to ensure a legal agricultural work force will be a disaster for American agriculture.”
AUDIE CORNISH: In Kansas, a coalition of conservative farm businessmen and liberal social advocates is pushing for an unusual law, one that would create a state-sanctioned work program benefitting illegal immigrants. Peggy Lowe, of Harvest Public Media, reports that their fiercest opponent is the Kansas politician who wrote Arizona’s tough immigration law.PEGGY LOWE: It’s a long way from Forget-Me-Not Farms to the Kansas state capitol. But T.J. Curtis drove the 300 miles because he needs more workers for his family’s dairy farm in the far western part of the state.
Dairy interests say decision could spawn ‘copycat’ legislation in other states and significantly affect employers who employ undocumented workers.
The goal is to have at least 20 producers per state participate to get a more accurate picture of dairy labor rates.
Los litigios por salarios y por horas extras son las demandas que más están creciendo en los Estados Unidos.
Dangerous bulls, heavy machinery and treacherous manure pits can all pose hazards on a dairy. Follow these safety precautions.
It’s about what the dairy needs, not what family members or employers want their responsibilities to be, Ohio professor says at Expo seminar.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents to California Farm Bureau Federation survey experienced labor challenges in 2012.
The pervasive “Employee of the Month” incentive is a poor strategy for motivating employee productivity.
The giant yogurt maker foresees “negative” business conditions in Europe being more than offset by emerging markets.
Farm groups agreed on a rolling visa limit for immigrant farmworkers and minimum wages for laborers, resolving sticking points on the path toward revised U.S. immigration law.
“The approach in this agreement is better for employers, better for employees, better for law enforcement, better for the economy – better for America.” --Jeryr Kozak, NMPF.
‘See It? Stop It!’ initiative to be a component of National Dairy FARM Program.
Dairies struggle with U.S. immigration laws that were designed for seasonal farm laborers instead of the year-round, seven-days-a-week ones they need.
Bipartisan bill’s ‘blue card’ would allow farmers to keep their existing workforce.
Mooney calls for immigration reform, points to lack of viable visa program for the dairy industry.
The state’s $43.5 billion-a-year farm industry depends on a shadow workforce of undocumented Mexican immigrants that’s eroding under economic improvements back home and tighter U.S. border controls.
Applications for Farm Labor Housing assistance are due Sept. 13, 2013.