FarmSTAND

NEW: FarmSTAND is representing farmworker advocates and workers acting to preserve really important federal protections for workers with H-2A visas. These organizations and workers have filed an amicus brief in a meritless legal challenge to the Biden Administration’s recently finalized rule protecting the rights of workers in temporary agricultural employment. They argue that the suit fundamentally misunderstands the purpose of the H-2A program, and that the relief sought by the plaintiff states and employers – the shredding of the full rule – would gravely harm the hundreds of thousands of agricultural workers who need its protection. Those protections include requiring seatbelts in vehicles transporting workers so as to prevent horrific traffic accidents, ensuring workers in employer-provided housing can receive guests and visits from service providers, and preventing employers from retaliating against workers who file a complaint or speak with an attorney. Groups on the brief include Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas, Community Legal Services, Farmworker Justice, Farmworker Legal Services, The Georgia Legal Services Program, Justice at Work, Legal Action of Wisconsin, Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York, Inc., The National Legal Aid and Defender Association, The Northwest Workers' Justice Project, Sur Legal Collaborative, United Farm Workers Of America, and The UFW Foundation. The individual amici Willie Shelly and Tyrone Cason work with H-2A workers at a farm in Mississippi and perform the same job duties. All amici are represented by FarmSTAND and Sur Legal. https://lnkd.in/ezpU_i3q

ON APPEAL: Because everyone should be able to work in conditions that are dignified, fair, and healthy, and getting injured at work should never mean losing your income or ability to take care of your family, we're taking the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center v. Whitmer case to the Michigan Supreme Court.  More on this fight alongside the Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice: https://lnkd.in/eBu2agJe

"Paul Hosford, a fifth-generation Boone County resident, said the county has 'never recovered' from the 1980s farm crisis. As farmers went bankrupt en masse, the county lost families with the deepest roots. Industrial agriculture solved the lack of farm labor, but, Hosford said, it could not replace those farm families’ contributions to the community’s well-being. 'We lost so many people who gave to their communities in many different ways,' he said." We're helping to build a food system that nourishes all of us, and one that won't keep digging rural America into a deeper hole. Great reporting on a governor's impossible Big Ag promises in Nebraska's Flatwater Free Press: https://lnkd.in/eHAuESh5

"You're immune." That's what Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt told the likes of Tyson, Cargill, and Smithfield upon signing a measure to protect those meat giants from lawsuits over pollution caused by the waste they produce. Oklahoma's not alone. Big Ag's business model relies upon getting someone else to clean up its messes. Driven by the myth of "agricultural exceptionalism" or by promises of "inexpensive" meat driven by massive lobbying efforts from the agribusiness sector, state and federal government bodies come to the rescue of Big Ag time and again, at the expense of the people and communities they claim to serve. But not all state governments are falling into line. Some face Big Ag's wrath in court when they do their jobs: protecting the health and safety of workers and rural communities. Read much more in our latest blog post from Senior Staff Attorney Amal Bouhabib: https://lnkd.in/eMGY2NQg

"Getting serious about protecting Americans from bird flu and price-gouging means taking aim at food monopolies and factory farms." There's no way around it. Thank you, Food & Water Watch.

NEW: A Big Ag group in Colorado is appealing this win. We fight on alongside Colorado Legal Services, Towards Justice, and Farmworker Justice for a world where ALL food system workers are able to work with dignity, in safe working conditions, and with access to essential services. More on this case: https://lnkd.in/ewEUqnag

NEW: The food system we're working to build will nourish kids. By contrast, the current industrial animal ag system relies upon child labor for some of its most dangerous tasks, with horrifying results. Why? Corporate reliance on the exploitation of immigrants, "agricultural exceptionalism", a decline in the diversity of employment opportunities in rural communities (a trend made worse as Big Ag's power has grown), and more. FarmSTAND Research Paralegal Sylvia Regan lays out how we got here on our blog: https://lnkd.in/e8NWfA9z

"The federal response is largely focusing on voluntary efforts by farmers to help track and contain the outbreak. But many farms still have not signed up for USDA efforts to boost surveillance and testing for the virus." An industrial ag system built to make a profit at all costs will never voluntarily put human or animal health first. Dismantling Big Ag moves us all closer to the world we want to see. https://lnkd.in/eGrHvVNg

"What worries critics most is that biogas development will lock in the lagoon-and-sprayfield system by surrounding it with the halo of what some consider green energy. That, in turn, could make it even harder to push for a transition to cleaner waste-disposal methods." Factory farm gas is designed to lock us into a fragile, cruel system that's bad for the climate. https://lnkd.in/e_km6Na9