Rural America

California: Water, Politics
California’s drought was broken after three years by a nine atmospheric rivers between December 20, 2022 and January 15, 2023 that delivered 15 to

Meat and Migrants
Meatpacking workers filed a class-action suit in Denver in November 2022 that accuses 11 firms that account for 80 percent of US red meat production

Labor, Education
The US unemployment rate was low in fall 2022 at 3.5 percent, as the US added an average of 400,000 jobs a month. The labor force was 165 million at

Farm Workers

California: Laws, H-2A
Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed bills affecting H-2A and unauthorized workers. AB 857 would have required employers to inform H-2A workers of their

Florida, Southeast
Three employees of Los Villatoros Harvesting were sentenced to several years in prison in October 2022 for charging Mexican H-2A workers $1,000 to

Midwest, Northeast, Northwest
Illinois. A quarter of US pumpkins are from Illinois, and 40 percent are from six states including Indiana, California, Texas, Michigan, and

UFW, ALRB, Unions
The UFW has contracts with five wineries, including Napa’s St Supery, and charged in April 2022 that St Supery did not permit UFW staff to talk to

Immigration

Elections, No Reforms
Republicans took control of the House in November 2022 elections with a slim margin, which may affect their promise to focus, for instance, on

DHS: Border, Title 42
A record 2.2 million unauthorized foreigners were encountered by Border Patrol agents just inside the US border with Mexico in FY22, and another

H-2A: 372,000 Jobs
DOL certified 18,560 employers to fill 372,000 farm jobs with H-2A workers in FY22, up 17 percent from 317,000 jobs certified in FY21 and up fourfold

Canada, Mexico
President Biden met with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau in a summit in January 2023. Trade between

Europe, Asia
Over five million Ukrainians were registered for temporary protection in EU countries in December 2022, including a third in Poland; registration

Global Population
The world reached an historic milestone November 15, 2022, when there were eight billion people on earth. By 2030, the world’s population is

Other

California: Crops, Cannabis
Kern, Tulare and Fresno led California counties in farm sales in 2021, with $8.4, $8.4, and $8 billion in farm sales, respectively. California

US: Farm Bill, CEA
Net US farm income is projected to top $160 billion in 2022, the highest in inflation-adjusted terms since 1973. Higher prices for crops and

Food, Wine
Supermarket chain Kroger offered $25 billion for Albertsons in October 2022. If the buy-out is completed, Kroger-Albertsons would have annual sales

Climate Change
Some 35,000 representatives from over 190 countries met in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt in November 2022 at the Conference of the Parties or COP27 to