"K&B Farm owner Brian Cash watched 85% of his workforce disappear in one day as workers fled the state in fear of harassment and discrimination since Alabama’s immigration law went into effect. Brian’s family has been farming for three generations...
"Jerry Spencer had an idea after Alabama’s tough new law against illegal immigration scared Hispanic workers out of the tomato fields northeast of Birmingham: Recruit unemployed U.S. citizens to do the work, give them free transportation and pay them...
"Farmwork is the worst combination of subpoverty wages; dangerous, backbreaking work; and near-total absence of labor protections or benefits. Few aspire to do farmwork, as Georgia’s growers just found out the hard way. But the good news is, although...
"E-Verify's opponents contend the system will destroy agribusiness by driving up costs, shrinking the workforce, and wreaking havoc on food production. When Hollabaugh hears a legislator say E-Verify will save American jobs for Americans, "I just...
"Farmers with questions about how the state’s immigration law will affect their operations will have an opportunity to learn more Friday through a statewide web conference. ... “This law contains many provisions with stiff fines and penalties,” said...
"The stakes are rising and tempers are flaring in the immigration debate. As much of the agricultural community seeks to avoid a mandatory E-Verify law without a suitable guest worker program for agriculture, economists with the American Farm Bureau Federation...
"Using prisoners to pick up the slack is likely to fall short in addressing the labor issue, if Georgia--a state that also saw Hispanic agricultural workers flee over the anti-immigration law--is any guide." International Business Times, Oct. 7...
Crops are rotting in the fields because farmers can't find enough workers to harvest them. Even legal immigrants are not showing up for jobs at construction sites and poultry plants because, agriculture and industry officials say, they fear a hostile...
"What will the effects of Georgia’s anti-immigrant law be on the state? It is true that putting an exact figure on economic losses is difficult with the remarkable diversity of agricultural products, seasonal cycles, and size and sophistication of farming...
"How can there be a labor shortage when nearly one out of every 11 people in the nation are unemployed? That’s the question John Harold asked himself last winter when he was trying to figure out how much help he would need to harvest the corn and onions...
"The impact of Georgia's illegal immigration law approaches nearly $150 million in losses, Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black testified Tuesday in Washington." WXIA-TV, Oct. 4, 2011 .
"A sponsor of Alabama's tough new immigration law told desperate tomato farmers Monday that he won't change the law, even though they told him that their crops are rotting in the field and they are at risk of losing their farms." Associated...
"Lately it seems that Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples would rather have the Texas Department of Agriculture become a wing of the U.S. Department of Defense than a Texas state agency. Not long ago, Staples commissioned an $80,000 “strategic military...