Despite headwinds, House set to OK Dems’ immigration bills [Associated Press]
Democrats seemed poised to claim victory Thursday in the House’s first votes this year on immigration, but moving legislation on the divisive issue all the way through Congress is an uphill fight. … White House statements endorsing both measures noted that many immigrants in the U.S. illegally have been essential workers during the pandemic. … The other bill would let immigrant farm workers who’ve worked in the country illegally over the past two years — along their spouses and children — get certified agriculture worker status. That would let them remain in the U.S. for renewable 5 1/2-year periods.
https://www.pe.com/2021/03/18/despite-headwinds-house-set-to-ok-dems-immigration-bills/
Supreme Court to hear challenge to California law that allows union organizers on farms [Los Angeles Times]
… In the mid-’70s, the new California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, in one of its first acts, gave union organizers a “right of access” to farms and processing stations so they could meet with workers and seek their support. Now that rule is in danger of being struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. … The court will hear arguments Monday in this clash between property rights and labor rights in the case of Cedar Point Nursery vs. Hassid. … California officials say the “access” rule is a temporary regulation of private property, not a taking of the grower’s land.
‘There’s tremendous fear’: Farmworkers face vaccine eligibility woes [Politico]
State officials and advocates are racing to overcome obstacles that hamper vaccinating the nation’s 3 million farmworkers before the upcoming harvest season. The biggest hurdle: Many agriculture-rich states have been slow to make laborers eligible for shots … Where farmworkers are eligible, after an initial slow start, a vaccination strategy has come together and is proving successful. In California, for example, advocates are partnering with community health centers to set up vaccination sites and mobile clinics in farming communities.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/18/migrant-workers-coronavirus-vaccination-476804
Fresno health inspectors tipped off Foster Farms about state COVID inspection, emails show [Fresno Bee]
Last December, during the biggest known COVID-19 workplace outbreak in Fresno County, public health officials said they were investigating Foster Farms’ chicken processing plant in southeast Fresno. But dozens of emails obtained by The Fresno Bee through a Public Records Act request show that during the outbreak at the South Cherry Avenue plant that infected hundreds, health officials tipped off company executives about a Cal/OSHA inspection, coordinated media talking points during the crisis, withheld information from the public and issued no COVID-related corrective actions.
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/coronavirus/article249904508.html
Seaweed-laced feed reduces methane in cow burps by 82%. Potential impact on greenhouse emissions [San Francisco Chronicle]
Beef and dairy production are considered important drivers of climate change, contributing roughly 5% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, mostly in the form of methane released by cattle and other ruminant animals. But adding just a small amount of seaweed to cattle feed can reduce the output of methane in their burps by 82%, a UC Davis study published Wednesday concludes. “We have a billion cattle in the world, and if even a few of them get it, it will make a big difference,” said Ermias Kebreab, co-author of the study and an animal science professor at UC Davis.
Opinion: Better trade policy could have avoided Japan’s beef with American farmers [Wall Street Journal]
American farmers are about to feel a new temporary squeeze, courtesy of the U.S. decision four years ago to abandon membership of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Rejoining may be politically difficult, but the arguments today are even stronger than when the TPP was originally negotiated. U.S. beef exports to Japan—the largest market for U.S. farmers—will be hit with a 38.5% tariff, up from the usual 25.8%, for 30 days. The volumes sold into Japan have exceeded the amounts set out in negotiations between the two countries.
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