Sept. 28, 2023 www.investigatemidwest.org Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
Group aims to help farmworkers get 'essential services'
A Colorado lawsuit challenging the right of farmworkers in the state to access "essential service providers" – health professionals, attorneys, consuls, and clergy members – at their workplace during breaks is the first case of a new organization seeking to create agricultural precedents in the courts.
The organization, called FarmSTAND, aims to focus resources — bringing together lawyers and their expertise — on certain potentially precedent-setting cases, working in collaboration with a broad base of local and national organizations.
The lawsuit involves the Colorado Livestock Association, which is challenging the right that state farmworkers were given in 2021, allowing them to access key service providers on-site during their work breaks.
In this instance, FarmSTAND, in collaboration with Towards Justice and Farmworker Justice, is providing support and counsel to the local organization Colorado Legal Services to intervene as a defendant.
— Mónica Cordero, data reporter and Report for America corps member
A new network of attorneys fights the abuses of industrial agriculture. First up, Colorado.
By Mónica Cordero, Investigate Midwest and Report for America
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed the Agricultural Workers’ Rights bill into law in June. This law guarantees farmworkers have the right to contact “essential service providers” — health professionals, attorneys, consuls, and clergy members — during their breaks.
However, an industry group is challenging the law.
Read more.
Wisconsin journalist John McCracken to cover Big Meat
Investigate Midwest is pleased to announce journalist John McCracken has joined its editorial staff and will cover the industrial meatpacking industry.
McCracken started Sept. 25. He is based in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
“I am thrilled to be working with such a talented and knowledgeable newsroom on one of the most pressing issues in the region,” McCracken said.
He joins a six-member editorial team.
McCracken brings experience reporting at the intersection of agriculture, environmental pollution and climate change through previous work at Grist, a national nonprofit news outlet. His award-winning work has been published widely.
MORE: Read the release on our latest team member
Graphic: Agricultural labor costs are projected to rise by nearly 2% in 2023
By Mónica Cordero, Investigate Midwest and Report for America
In August, the USDA's Economic Research Service released forecasts indicating that overall cash labor expenditures within the U.S. agricultural sector are projected to reach $43.35 billion by the end of 2023.
See the graphic.
Opinion: EPA promises to look under the hood of CAFO operations
By Dave Dickey, Columnist
In his latest column, Dave Dickey details the long journey to getting the EPA to look at pollution rules for animal feeding operations. He writes:
At long last the Environmental Protection Agency has recognized that maybe, just maybe, environmental groups have a point that concentrated animal feeding operations — CAFOs — are a significant source of water pollutants, if not closely managed and monitored.
Read more.
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