Labor

Field worker wages up 6%, signaling hike for H-2A pay

Field workers at U.S. farms received an average of $17.04 per hour in October, an increase of 6% from the same month in 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Labor Survey. The... more »

FFVA comments on rising farm labor rates

Noting expected hikes in Florida farm labor rates, the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association is weighing in on how growers are being affected by rising labor costs. Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released... more »

IFPA calls H-2A wages an ‘assault’ on produce industry

The International Fresh Produce Association is projecting an almost 7% average increase pay rates for workers in the H-2A program, based on the recent release of the annual U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Labor Survey... more »

Ag labor group sues to halt H-2A changes

The National Council of Agricultural Employers (NCAE) has filed a legal challenge to changes in the H-2A program. The lawsuit alleges that the Department of Labor has “unlawfully repealed a final rule duly issued, prescribed... more »

Workers benefit from flu vaccines, COVID-19 boosters

This year has been the worst year for flu in the United States in over a decade, according to recently released federal data. Farmworkers, and especially those who live in shared housing with other workers,... more »

John Deere receives awards in robotics, vehicle tech

John Deere has been named a CES 2023 Innovation Awards Best of Innovation honoree in the Robotics category, and an honoree in the Vehicle Tech & Advanced Mobility category for its fully autonomous tractor. This... more »

Locati Farms counters higher costs, supply shortages

Locati Farms, a Walla Walla, Washington, sweet onion grower, adapts to challenges by changing growing practices and using technology to improve the quality of the region’s namesake onion. For more than a century, Locati Farms... more »

Field of Machines: Automation eases some tasks, but focus is on harvest

FRESNO, Calif. – As Congress prepares yet again to consider agriculture labor reform through the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, dozens of autonomous sprayers, weeders and cultivators are entering fields, orchards and vineyards every day in... more »