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Testing of an unknown number of watermelon harvesters in three north Florida counties revealed that three out of four were positive for COVID-19, Florida health officials told industry leaders.

A free recruitment tool has been launched for U.S. growers and farm labor contractors.

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.

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.

Equitable Food Initiative has created a free responsible recruitment scorecard, available in English and Spanish.

Drawing broad bipartisan and industry support, House lawmakers on Oct. 30 introduced the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.

Beyond adding new companies to the program and a big influx of financial support, the Equitable Food Initiative has made a difference in 2019, the organization’s leaders believe.

Farmers who use the H-2A guest worker program are facing COVID-19-related delays in the processing and approval of those workers.

Democratic lawmakers, Farmworker Justice and the Environmental Working Group are pushing for new federal protections for farm and food workers in the next coronavirus stimulus legislation.