Rural America

California: Weather, Housing
California’s weather is normally predictable: wet and cool winters and dry and hot summers. However, weather patterns are changing. Sacramento

Meat and Migrants
The three largest US chicken processors, Tyson, 20 percent of US chicken production; Pilgrim, 17 percent; and Sanderson-Wayne, 17 percent, struggled

Labor, FAST, Migrants
US employment returned to pre-covid levels in July 2022 as the unemployment rate dropped to 3.5 percent. The US added over 400,000 jobs a month in

Farm Workers

California: Wage Theft
Rising labor costs due to California’s increasing minimum wage, overtime pay requirements, covid-related protocols, and fewer new entrants to the

Florida, Southeast
Florida’s citrus acreage continues to decline, falling to 375,000 acres and 56 million trees in 2022, down from 830,000 acres in 2000. About 60

Midwest, Northeast, Northwest
Colorado. Some 2,000 sheepherders (borregueros) with H-2A visas watch flocks of 1,000 to 2,000 sheep in the public lands of the western US. Most

UFW, ALRB, NLRB
About 25 UFW supporters marched 355 miles from Delano to Sacramento over 24 days in August 2022 to encourage Governor Newsom to sign AB 2183, the

Immigration

Migrant Buses
Over 7,000 migrants a day entered the US and applied for asylum in September 2022, bringing total encounters or apprehensions just inside the

CBP, ICE, USCIS
CBP. Over 2.1 million migrants were encountered just inside US borders in the first 11 months of FY22, putting CBP on track to encounter 2.3 million

H-2A: FWMA
Employer associations and worker advocates in summer 2022 called on the Senate to approve the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, HR 1603. The FWMA was

Canada, Mexico
Latin America is a laggard in globalization. Trade is equivalent to 45 percent of regional GDP, lower than the average 55 percent for all countries,

Europe, Asia
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. After six months of fighting, some 6.6 million Ukrainians had moved to European countries, including 3.8

Global Population
The world’s population is projected to reach eight billion on November 15, 2022, up from three billion in 1960. Global fertility peaked at an

Other

California Ag
California farm sales topped $51 billion in 2021, up from $49 billion in 2020, 12 percent of US farm sales of $434 billion, including $238 billion

US Ag, Trade
US net farm income is projected to be $148 billion in 2022, up from $140 billion in 2021; about 10 percent of net farm income reflects government

Food, Wine
The price of wheat, which was less than $8 a bushel before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, jumped over 50 percent to over $12 a bushel in

Climate Change
The UN’s Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services issued a report in July 2022 that concluded that half of