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Farming industry

COVID-19

COVID stresses food production in Washington fruit harvests

by Mitchell Hartman
Oct 27, 2020
It's fruit harvesting and processing time in the Pacific Northwest and workers are getting PPE, but still pressing for union rights.
Jeff T. Green/Getty Images
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COVID-19

Farmers grapple with stress and depression as they try to keep their operations afloat

by Alisa Roth
Jun 11, 2020
One Minnesota program offers free mental health care through the state agriculture department.
A farmer looks over his field in Texas. COVID-19 is adding stress to already strained farmers.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
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COVID-19

What does President Trump's order on meat processing plants mean for workers and food supply?

by David Brancaccio , Candace Manriquez Wrenn and Alex Schroeder
Apr 29, 2020
Maintaining social distance at these COVID-19 hot spots is not easy.
We're now buying almost all of our meat through supermarket chains.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
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Midwestern farmers are tied to a Gulf dead zone

by Annie Baxter
Oct 9, 2017
Minnesota is trying to limit runoff carried by the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.
Soybeans are harvested near Worthington, Minnesota.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
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Amid Trump’s immigration crackdown, farmers look for reform

by Marketplace Contributor
Sep 26, 2017
Farmers want to see reform to the H-2A visas program, that allows foreign agricultural laborers to work legally in the U.S.
Gary Paulk, a muscadine and berry farmer in Irwin County, said he lost about $200,000 in 2011 due to a labor shortage.
Elly Yu for Marketplace
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Chicken processing plants want to speed up operations

by Dan Gorenstein
Sep 13, 2017
They'll need the USDA to roll back protections first. Critics say that will compromise worker safety.
Axel Schmidt/Getty Images
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As customers buy more organic food, a call for more industry oversight

by Annie Baxter
Sep 11, 2017
The market for organic food passed the $40 billion mark in the U.S. last year. As bigger companies get into the organics game, and more imported organic food lands in the U.S., more questions arise for USDA certifiers.
In 2016, organic food sales broke past the $40 billion mark for the first time. Above, a customer shops for milk at a Safeway's "Lifestyle" store in Livermore, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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Citrus growers cower as Irma advances on Florida coast

by Annie Baxter
Sep 7, 2017
With Hurricane Irma on the way, farmers from Florida on up the coast to the Carolinas are on alert. More cotton crops are threatened, and the price of orange juice futures is already up. Click the audio player above to hear the full story.
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How an immigration raid threw a small Iowa town into economic crisis

by Annie Baxter
Aug 3, 2017
Postville's recovery has been slow after hundreds of workers were arrested and virtually disappeared over night.
Signs are displayed in Postville in 2009, a year after an immigration raid crippled a meat processing plant. “It cratered the Northeast Iowa economy,” says Aaron Goldsmith, a local business owner.
ERIK CAMAYD-FREIXAS/AFP/Getty Images
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Eggs cheap as overseas demand for U.S. produce falls

by Adam Allington
Aug 1, 2017
An oversupply of eggs is driving down prices to record low levels. But what cheers shoppers isn’t always good for farmers. Many producers are just recovering from a devastating bird flu outbreak that struck two years ago. And this is one more hassle to deal with. Click the audio player above to hear the full […]
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