Fresh Produce Discussion Blog

Created by The Packer's National Editor Tom Karst

Thursday, December 11, 2008

New H-2A rule

From the Department of Labor Web site:


H-2A Final Rule: On December 5, 2008, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) cleared for publication the Department’s H-2A Final Rule. Click here for the preamble to the Final Rule and click here for the Final Rule. Please note this document has not yet received final approval from the Office of the Federal Register, which may make minor changes prior to publication. The official version of the rule, as published, may differ from that cleared by OMB.


TK: A 394 page preamble and a 142 page final rule. It will take a while to go through this rule.


Early coverage:

Bush unveils rules for guest workers
NYT

The Bush administration announced new rules on Thursday that it said would lessen the bureaucratic burden on employers seeking to hire foreign farm workers. Advocates for the workers, however, contended the changes would depress wages and working conditions.




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Tracking produce movement

Here are some USDA reported fresh shipment numbers from early September to early December. Measure is 100,000 pound units. USDA data incorrectly tracks some items such as mushrooms, but I have compiled the data available from the USDA portal to put this together. While we are still waiting for numbers from AC Nielsen, it appears that produce movement has been flat to down slightly since September. Crop conditions, demand response and the lurking recession all probably play a role in these numbers.



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Looking for Mr. Left

From Consumers Union, a news release about consumer groups' expectations for the new Agriculture Secretary:


A coalition of food safety, science, and consumer groups today urged President-elect Obama to appoint a Secretary of Agriculture “who embraces the diversity of programs administered by the Department [of Agriculture] and accepts the responsibility for representing the interests of all Americans, urban as well as rural, consumers as well as producers.”

The groups said the appointee should be one who has “experience with or [has] been an advocate for USDA’s nutrition, conservation and food safety programs and [has] had experience providing leadership to a large and diverse organization,” rather than an appointee “whose primary qualification for the position is their knowledge of and interest in production agriculture and commodity programs.”

The letter was signed by Center for Foodborne Illness, Research & Prevention; Center for Science in the Public Interest; Consumer Federation of America; Consumers Union; Food & Water Watch; Government Accountability Project; Safe Tables Our Priority; Union of Concerned Scientists.


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H-2A : drumroll please

As we prepare for release of the Administration's H2A final changes, here is what the media is writing so far....

Bush Administration makes last minute changes in farm worker hiring Sacbee

In a move that could have a profound impact in California, the Bush administration has changed the H-2A guest farmworker program.

The changes will make it easier for employers to use, with relaxed wage, housing and recruitment requirements, according to the administration, which has warned that Homeland Security will be cracking down on illegal immigrant workers.

The little-used federal H-2A program allows growers to import temporary workers for short periods. The Bush administration's controversial changes to the program, which were met with fierce protest by labor advocates and lukewarm employer reaction, are expected to be published Dec. 18 in the Federal Register and take effect in January after Barack Obama's inauguration.

In its final days, the administration "is making it easier for employers to bring in massive numbers of workers with fewer regulations and no oversight," said Bruce Goldstein, director of Farmworker Justice in Washington, D.C. He said advocates will explore going to court or Congress to reverse the changes.

Only a tiny fraction of farm laborers are H-2A workers in California, the nation's richest farm region. Industry estimates are that many, if not most, of a nearly 1 million-strong peak period workforce could be undocumented.

Western Growers Association President Tom Nassif called some advocates' concerns about the H-2A changes "overstated." But he didn't express strong enthusiasm for the reforms, either. He called the new rules "a temporary fix" and said he would continue to push – in unison with Goldstein and the United Farm Workers – for Obama and Congress to adopt a federal bill called AgJOBS, which would open a path for farmworkers to earned legal status if they continue to work in agriculture for three to five more years.


New rules make it easier to get foreign farm workers From McClatchy

A Labor Department spokesman said Wednesday night that the final rules would be made public today and published in the Federal Register Dec. 18, which means they'd take effect two days before Barack Obama is sworn in as president Jan. 20.

About 75,000 foreign guest workers obtain visas annually under the H-2A program. The program is an agricultural cousin to the H-1B visa program favored by the high-tech industry, designed to aid employers who are unable to find U.S. workers for specialized tasks.

U.S. farmers, though, consider the 50-year-old program slow and cumbersome, and it provides only a fraction of the U.S. farm-work force. California, for example, uses about 500 H-2A workers annually, while it has about 300,000 migrant farmworkers.

"It needs to be reformed," Frank Gasperini, executive vice president of the National Council of Agricultural Employers, said of the H-2A program. "It doesn't work as well as it should."

Changes afoot in farm hiring From AP

The Bush administration published a proposed version of the new rule last Feb. 13 and received nearly 12,000 public comments, Shawn added. The next version will be a final rule and can take effect 30 days after publication. Some of its provisions would take effect in mid-January and others later in the year, the farmworker groups said.

Farm worker advocates and the United Farm Workers union said the version that appeared on the Web site would lead to a flood of cheaper workers.

"The government has decided to offer agriculture employers really low wages, low benefits, no government oversight to bring in foreign workers on restricted visas and thereby convince them they should do this instead of hiring undocumented workers," said Bruce Goldstein, executive director of Farmworker Justice, a group that advocates for farmworkers.

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Secretary of food?

Packer Managing Editor Fred Wilkinson here.

In a article in today's New York Times, columnist Nicholas Kristof urges President-elect Obama to make good on his "change" pledge and reinvent the U.S. Department of Agriculture to better reflect the nutritional needs of the country rather than the needs of corporate agriculture. Kristof writes:

"As Barack Obama ponders whom to pick as agriculture secretary, he should reframe the question. What he needs is actually a bold reformer in a position renamed “secretary of food.”

A Department of Agriculture made sense 100 years ago when 35 percent of Americans engaged in farming. But today, fewer than 2 percent are farmers. In contrast, 100 percent of Americans eat."

Kristof continues on to take the USDA to task for encouraging and subsidising a food production system geared toward producing cheap, empty calories. He quotes former Bush administration Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman as saying USDA should be renamed the "Department of Food and Agriculture."

The U.S. Senate agriculture committee's official title is the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. The "forestry" tacked onto the end seems to widen the scope a bit needlessly.

But in tying together more closely the relationship between consumer and producer in the U.S. food chain, Kristof makes some good points.

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Dec. 11 - Top headlines

I spent some of last night compiling some shipment numbers of fresh produce commodities from the first week of September to the first week of December. Hopefully, I can complete that work later today and post them.

Meanwhile, here are some top headlines snatched from the Web.

New climate treaty being negotiated Greenhouse gases rise by 70% since 1970, story says. U.N. treaty may be done in a year. But 650 scientists dissent.

Coverage of Great Lakes Fruits and Vegetables Show

Farmer's Best stays with Chep


Tomato industry recovering from salmonella scare but high costs, falling prices challenge growers

Story mentions plan by Florida Tomato Exchange to expand retail sales of field grown tomatoes that have given up space to greenhouse product. Despite supplies that are called 20% lower than a year ago, prices still lag.

Four quarters of declining GDP UCLA forecast says 2 million jobs lost in the next 12 months while deficit estimate is $1.5 trillion. Economist Roubini is quoted "The Fed and the Treasury are taking a massive amount of credit risk, endangering the long-term solvency of the U.S. government."


South Carolina's new immigration regs
and Nebraska looking at tougher immigration rules and bad economy causes immigrants to head home.

On obesity: Gene may cause kids to crave junk food and one in three adults in the UK will be obese by 2012.

New Year's Resolutions are coming, such as heading to health club and eating better. But can we afford them? Here are some tips to get it done from American Diabetes Association. And Mother Earth News offers the 33 best foods for healthy living.

FBI probes Central Valley firm for racketeering
SK Foods investigation for bribery of buyers of processed tomato products.

On organic: Organic to go reports results and organic demand wilts as economy suffers.

Local food banks feel economic strain..


Brands under pressure from cheaper options Mention of P&G Website to sell direct to consumers.

Packaged food trends in Convenience Store News, including some fresh produce items.

States cut funding to combat disease outbreaks Just what we need...


Cattlemen provide vigorous defense of COOL

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