Labor

RSS

More workers and a more diverse food system, including small and medium-sized meatpackers, are necessary for American agriculture to maintain resilience in the face of threats to the system, commenters told USDA as the department embarks on its effort to reimagine the country's agricultural supply chains.

A California law allowing farm labor organizers to enter private property for up to three hours a day, 120 days a year amounts to an unconstitutional taking requiring compensation, the Supreme Court concluded in an opinion issued Wednesday.

The federal district court ruling that struck down the pork harvest facility line speed increase allowed under USDA’s New Swine Inspection System will lead to increased market concentration, according to the National Pork Producers Council.

Agriculture and farmworker groups met with key senators and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to push for Senate action on ag labor reform.

Colorado lawmakers just passed a bill that will make the state the fifth in the nation to require farms to pay overtime to their workers, and farm groups expect more state legislatures to follow suit.

Nebraska-based pork processor Wholestone Farms announced Monday that the company will be expanding into South Dakota with plans to build a $500 million pork harvest and processing facility.

Western Growers plans to work with the California Department of Food and Agriculture on a statewide initiative to equip “a future workforce with the skills and knowledge to navigate emerging on-farm technology,” the organization recently announced.

A trade association representing meatpackers is asking the highest court in the land to consider a new report in their fight to overturn California’s Proposition 12, arguing the law “provides no benefit to consumers and increases breeding sow mortality, according to the state’s own rule.”

An emphasis on wind and solar power, better protection for farmworkers, and more regulatory scrutiny of pesticides are among the highlights of a report advanced by the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council prepared to help guide federal investments in disadvantaged communities.

Small businesses have a crucial role to play in ensuring COVID-19 vaccines get into the arms of rural Americans, who have been less eager than their urban and suburban counterparts to get the shots, panelists said at a virtual summit Thursday.