Labor

EPA updates ag worker pesticide rules

EPA has revised the 1992 Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS) regulation, which seeks to protect agricultural workers and pesticide handlers from injury or illness resulting from contact with pesticides. “We depend on farm workers every... more »

Hiring labor for your farm? Use the Agricultural Employer Checklist

Agricultural employers of labor in Michigan have a newly updated tool in the form of the Agricultural Employer Checklist, which was revised Oct. 1, 2015 and updated by Stan Moore, Adam Kantrovich, Corey Risch and John Jones of Michigan State University Extension. The... more »

Labor shortages documented during California harvest

This year, California farmers planted fewer acres and let go of hundreds of farm workers. But despite the downsizing, labor shortages are being reported across the state. Here’s more from the Sierra Sun Times: ... more »

Ready Pac Foods to provide job opportunities for Syrian refugees

Ready Pac Foods opened its employment doors for refugees relocating to the United States from the current crisis in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The fresh foods company has committed to train and hire refugees from among the 10,000 Syrian refugees expected... more »

EPA updates worker pesticide rules

EPA has revised the 1992 Agricultural Worker Protection Standard regulation. The revised regulation seeks to protect and reduce the risks of injury or illness resulting from agricultural workers’ and pesticide handlers’ use and contact with... more »

Michigan Farmers Union members meet with lawmakers

Michigan Farmers Union (MFU) members and more than 270 fellow farmers, ranchers and fishermen from across the country met in Washington, D.C., Sept. 16-18 for the National Farmers Union annual Fall Legislative Fly-In.“Meeting with our... more »

USDA pledges $2.5 million to expand new farmer education

Agriculture Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden today announced that $2.5 million in grants is now available for projects to educate new and underserved farmers about more than 20 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency... more »

Robotics drive crop, harvest mechanization

In recent years, there has been an increase in the agriculture industry's level of interest in the development and deployment of driverless tractors, aerial surveying of farmlands, data collection, field management and other technology-based systems.The... more »