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The U.S. Department of Labor has signed a bi-lateral cooperative agreement with Guatemala to improve transparency, accountability, and worker safety in the H-2A visa program for agricultural workers from Guatemala.

With two minimum wage increases in the past year for Ontario growers and another likely for next year, higher costs for labor have slowed any expansion ideas, some say.

Though the H-2A guest worker program has helped soften the crisis, farm labor remains a top issues for Santa Maria growers.

Salinas, Calif.-based D’Arrigo Bros. of California signed a new contract with the United Farm Workers union that will cover more than 1,500 farm workers, according to a news release.

Just as immigration reform continues to elude lawmakers in Washington, D.C., a stable workforce continues to elude grower-shippers in California’s Salinas Valley.

Local food is maintaining its strong appeal in the Twin Cities, but tight and expensive labor make it a challenging business environment for growers.

(UPDATED, 11:38 a.m.)Taking a step to deliver on a 2018 promise, a proposed rule from the Trump administration seeks to update the way wage rates are determined for the H-2A agricultural guest worker program.

Just shy of five years after they voted on union representation, Fresno, Calif.-based Gerawan Farming employees have had their votes officially certified by the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board.

The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a final rule that will allow agricultural employers to advertise for domestic workers online rather than in a newspaper before they turn to foreign guest workers.

The Texas International Produce Association is teaming with Equitable Food Initiative (EFI) and CIERTO Global to host two workshops on labor challenges.