Search - The Packer

More than 30 produce industry organizations are asking Congress for more resources for growers to protect their workforce against COVID-19.

Employer and worker advocate groups disagree over solutions as COVID-19 outbreaks escalate at farms and packinghouses while summer harvests kick into high gear.

A Windsor-Essex County, Canada, health official used an Ontario statute to order a farm to take workers off the job and self-isolate after at least 191 of them at a greenhouse tested positive for COVID-19.

California is looking to build on the success of the Grower Shipper Association of Central California’s quarantined housing program with an expanded statewide effort.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has updated the farmers.gov website with features designed to help growers hire workers through the H-2A program.

At the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group on LinkedIn, I offered a poll question that states, “As a produce professional, what is your biggest worry?”

The 46th Annual Agricultural Labor Relations Forum will be online.

Stemilt Growers has achieved a three-year Equitable Food Initiative certification at its Quincy, Wash., apple and cherry orchard operation. The company has plans to expand the program, according to a news release.

How much growers will pay for guest workers in the H-2A program in 2021 is unknown because of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to suspend a report used to set wages.

The National Council of Agricultural Employers, a trade association focused on farm labor issues, will have its annual Ag Labor Forum online this year.