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News Articles: farmworkers

A Cesar Chavez button is seen in El Paso, Texas, during a celebration of the civil rights leader on March 31, 2000.

Tagged as: 

  • Arts & Life

Cesar Chavez Day celebrates a lifetime fight for justice for farmworkers

Cesar Chavez Day celebrates the life and legacy of the labor rights icon.

March 31, 2025
|
By:
  • Alana Wise
Children and family members of migrant farm workers visited the State Capitol on March 21, 2025, to learn about the legislative process, and advocate for the farm worker communities several miles north and south of Atlanta. Agriculture is Georgia's most profitable industry.

Tagged as: 

  • Politics

'This is the people’s house': Students from farmworker families speak out at Georgia Capitol

An annual visit by family members of farmworkers in Georgia took on a different tone amid recent targets on immigrant communities.

March 25, 2025
|
By:
  • Sofi Gratas
Watermelon pickers in a field near Pitts, Ga. on June 27, 2023. Workers take four water breaks an hour to stay safe in the extreme heat of field work.

Tagged as: 

  • Economy

Georgia growers part of group saying new rules for migrant farm workers go too far

A lawsuit filed in Brunswick which includes Georgia accuses the Department of Labor of overstepping by extending organizing protections to migrant farm workers. 

June 13, 2024
|
By:
  • Sofi Gratas
While a crew of watermelon pickers in Pitts, Ga. eats their lunch under the shade of a pecan tree while their crew leaders watch from the air conditioned cab of a tractor, background.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

In preparation for rising temperatures, health care providers access new tools to monitor heat risks

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Weather Service are pushing out tools released this week to help limit heat-related injuries.

April 26, 2024
|
By:
  • Sofi Gratas
Paola Mendoza, the daughter of farmworkers, says her parents didn't want her to join them in the fields. She's now in college, studying to be a teacher.

Tagged as: 

  • Business

As these farmworkers' children seek a different future, who will pick the crops?

U.S. farms have faced worker shortages for years. Now compounding the problem: The children of farmworkers are leaving the fields, forcing farm owners to look to other countries for labor.

July 28, 2023
|
By:
  • Andrea Hsu and
  • Ximena Bustillo
A worker harvests cherries in the early hours of the morning on a farm near Sunnyside, Wash., on June 14.

Tagged as: 

  • Business

America's farms are desperate for labor. Foreign workers bring relief and controversy

The number of H-2A visas for seasonal farmworkers issued each year has more than quadrupled over the past decade. The growth has alarmed labor advocates. Farmers don't love the program, either.

July 27, 2023
|
By:
  • Andrea Hsu and
  • Ximena Bustillo
Jose Martinez was 14 when he came to the U.S. from Mexico to work in agriculture. He became an activist after years of enduring tough working conditions.

Tagged as: 

  • Politics

They put food on our tables but live in the shadows. This man is fighting to be seen

Jose Martinez has picked America's food for decades. With all that experience on different farms, he saw workers lacking labor protections. Now he works to give farmworkers more rights.

July 26, 2023
|
By:
  • Ximena Bustillo and
  • Andrea Hsu
Patricia Mendoza says she was happy when she first heard that farmworkers would be eligible for overtime. She didn't anticipate that she would lose hours as a result of the new law.

Tagged as: 

  • Business

These farmworkers thought a new overtime law would help them. Now, they want it gone

Washington state is among a handful of states with new laws granting farmworkers the right to earn time-and-a-half for overtime work. But for many workers, things haven't turned out as expected.

July 21, 2023
|
By:
  • Andrea Hsu and
  • Ximena Bustillo
Farm workers fill up bins in the back of a truck with zucchini on a farm in Florida City, Florida, in 2020.

Tagged as: 

  • Business

Children as young as 12 work legally on farms, despite years of efforts to change law

As some states look to roll back child labor laws, Democrats in Congress introduce a bill to increase protections for children working in agriculture that would raise the minimum age to 14.

June 12, 2023
|
By:
  • Andrea Hsu
Farm laborers working with an H-2A visa harvest romaine lettuce on a machine with heavy plastic dividers that separate workers from each other on April 27, 2020, in Greenfield, Calif.

Tagged as: 

  • Politics

Farmworkers brace for more time in the shadows after latest effort fails in Congress

A legalization path for farmworkers failed to pass this month and faces an even steeper climb in a Republican-controlled House in the next Congress.

December 28, 2022
|
By:
  • Ximena Bustillo
Before conducting the nasal swab test for COVID-19 at the Rantoul, Ill., clinic, researchers go out to greet each visitor and ask for basic identification and health information.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

To Help Farmworkers Get COVID-19 Tests And Vaccine, Build Trust And A Safety Net

Getting COVID-19 tests and vaccine to essential workers on commercial farms and in meatpacking plants requires more than a pop-up clinic miles away. A positive test can be financially devastating.

March 02, 2021
|
By:
  • Christine Herman and
  • Dana Cronin
Before massive wildfires broke out in California, farmworkers already had to take extra precautions for COVID-19. Now they must worry about dangerous air from wildfires. In this photo, farmworkers arrive early in the morning to begin harvesting on April 28 in Greenfield, Calif.

Tagged as: 

  • National

Wildfires Make Dangerous Air For Farmworkers: 'It's Like You Can't Breathe'

As fires ravage California, farmworkers are dealing with dangerous air in incredible heat. Hernan Hernandez of the California Farmworker Foundation says there's "nowhere near" enough protective gear.

September 15, 2020
|
By:
  • James Doubek

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