Latest Farmworker Stories
NEARLY 400 farm workers in the West Midlands were killed between 1997 to 2007 - almost a third in harvesting accidents, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The HSE is urging all farmers in Coventry and Warwickshire to take extra precautions with agricultural machinery during harvest season. Major factors for this increase include long hours, use of heavy machinery, worker fatigue, inadequate training of staff, inexperience and the dangers of overhead powerlines. According...
By The Monterey County Herald, Calif. Jul. 29--A number of farm labor, public health and environmental groups said Monday they filed a lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency over the continued use of the pesticide diazinon. The groups said diazinon, which has been widely used on Monterey County crops, is one of the most toxic pesticides on the market. Diazinon is used on broccoli, cherries, pears, spinach, tomatoes, apples and blueberries, the groups said. The EPA...
The lack of farmworkers has caused some U.S. farmers to scale back on acres planted, a farm bureau official said. We have producers across the state who ... started making cuts in the amount of acres they produce, due to a lack of workers, Landon Gates of the Colorado Farm Bureau told USA Today. The U.S. State Department processed 50,791 H-2A work visas for farm laborers in 2007, a fraction of the number needed, the newspaper reported. California alone employs 180,000 workers during the...
By Michael Kahn SALINAS, California (Reuters) - Illegal immigrant Ray Martinez pays taxes, shops at local stores and works 12-hour days in this rich farming region known as America's Salad Bowl, where about 75 percent of the nation's lettuce grows. Like thousands of his fellow farm workers in California's Salinas Valley -- some here legally, but most not -- Martinez stayed home on Monday as part of a nationwide boycott to demand a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and to...
By Michael Kahn SALINAS, California (Reuters) - Illegal immigrant Ray Martinez pays taxes, shops at local stores and works 12-hour days in this rich farming region known as America's Salad Bowl, where about 75 percent of the nation's lettuce grows. Like thousands of his fellow farm workers in California's Salinas Valley -- some here legally, but most not -- Martinez stayed home on on Monday as part of a nationwide boycott to demand a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and to...
By Michael KahnSALINAS, California -- Illegal immigrant Ray Martinez pays taxes, shops at local stores and works 12-hour days in this rich farming region known as America's Salad Bowl, where about 75 percent of the nation's lettuce grows.Like thousands of his fellow farm workers in California's Salinas Valley -- some here legally, but most not -- Martinez stayed home on on Monday as part of a nationwide boycott to demand a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and to protest...
By Christine StebbinsCHICAGO -- In the debate about how tough the United States should be on millions of illegal immigrants, Big Agriculture is warning Americans that the $12 trillion U.S. economy could be forced to go on a big diet if illegal immigrants are restricted.Immigrants have flooded into many industries in what President George W. Bush calls "the jobs Americans don't want." Agriculture is a prime area where mostly Mexican immigrants have sent down roots so strong that...
