Pam Lewison
Agriculture
Ag labor myths persist, posing challenges to reform
The national average for the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) is $17.33/hr., with individual states being held to a fluctuating rate. California’s current federally mandated AEWR is $19.75/hr., making it one of the top five highest in the nation. However, wage rates are not the only cost associated with the ...
Agriculture
Livestock showing, public policy are more similar than it seems
As a veteran livestock exhibitor – rabbits, market lambs, and cattle – and as someone now involved in public policy, drawing parallels between the two was easy. Here are three things required in livestock showing and public policy: Patience If you’ve ever tried to train a wild animal, you know ...
Agriculture
New World Screwworms arrive in the U.S. Now what?
Given the global environment we live and work in today, New World Screwworms have always been a threat to the U.S. cattle herd. The confirmation of New World Screwworms being found in a person in Maryland who had traveled from Guatemala should put livestock raisers on alert. Complacency in a ...
Agriculture
Wage regulation roll back is a step in the right direction for the H-2A program
The Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) is the de facto minimum wage for H-2A workers in the United States. It is set annually and differs from state-to-state depending upon the prevailing wage of the local agricultural workforce. Because all H-2A workers are in the United States temporarily to work in ...
Agriculture
Compassion, meat eating can co-exist
Our conversation came back to me when I received an email from an animal rights activist. During the email exchange I wrote, “Please do not misunderstand me, as a former 4-H’er, a beef cattle owner and raiser, a researcher, and agriculture advocate, I understand your concerns, but I do not ...
Agriculture
County fairs are great opportunities to go meat shopping
Many of California’s county fairs host livestock exhibits giving youth exhibitors an opportunity to sell their livestock during a live auction. Money from the sale of livestock is often saved in college funds, spent on first-car purchases, or funneled into the following years’ project – teaching youth real world money ...
Agriculture
Immigration policy reform, not Medicaid recipients, is the answer to our workforce problem
Some harvests have already started across the country despite farms and ranches facing labor shortages. Where will workers come from to ensure crops don’t go unharvested? U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins recently made a suggestion. In a news conference Rollins said, “So, no amnesty under any circumstances, mass deportations continue, ...
Agriculture
MAHA Report: a failure on several levels
When the MAHA report was released, readers quickly noticed what were later referred to as “formatting errors.” Those errors included footnotes and citations that didn’t exist and were apparently the result of “hallucinations” by report writers relying on AI rather than doing the work to understand existing research. What is ...
Agriculture
Fourth of July cookout costs emphasize the need for agriculture
As in years’ past, the American Farm Bureau Federation highlights our food production history by examining the cost of cooking for our family and friends on Fourth of July in the present. The West Coast has retained the dubious distinction of being the most expensive region of the country to ...
Agriculture
Context matters when considering immigration enforcement
According to most recent data, 44 percent of farmworkers in the U.S. are undocumented. However, it is hard to know with certainty how accurate that percentage is with some estimates hovering around 50 percent and others as high as 75 percent. The U.S. National Agricultural Worker Survey (NAWS) breaks down ...
Ag labor myths persist, posing challenges to reform
The national average for the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) is $17.33/hr., with individual states being held to a fluctuating rate. California’s current federally mandated AEWR is $19.75/hr., making it one of the top five highest in the nation. However, wage rates are not the only cost associated with the ...
Livestock showing, public policy are more similar than it seems
As a veteran livestock exhibitor – rabbits, market lambs, and cattle – and as someone now involved in public policy, drawing parallels between the two was easy. Here are three things required in livestock showing and public policy: Patience If you’ve ever tried to train a wild animal, you know ...
New World Screwworms arrive in the U.S. Now what?
Given the global environment we live and work in today, New World Screwworms have always been a threat to the U.S. cattle herd. The confirmation of New World Screwworms being found in a person in Maryland who had traveled from Guatemala should put livestock raisers on alert. Complacency in a ...
Wage regulation roll back is a step in the right direction for the H-2A program
The Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) is the de facto minimum wage for H-2A workers in the United States. It is set annually and differs from state-to-state depending upon the prevailing wage of the local agricultural workforce. Because all H-2A workers are in the United States temporarily to work in ...
Compassion, meat eating can co-exist
Our conversation came back to me when I received an email from an animal rights activist. During the email exchange I wrote, “Please do not misunderstand me, as a former 4-H’er, a beef cattle owner and raiser, a researcher, and agriculture advocate, I understand your concerns, but I do not ...
County fairs are great opportunities to go meat shopping
Many of California’s county fairs host livestock exhibits giving youth exhibitors an opportunity to sell their livestock during a live auction. Money from the sale of livestock is often saved in college funds, spent on first-car purchases, or funneled into the following years’ project – teaching youth real world money ...
Immigration policy reform, not Medicaid recipients, is the answer to our workforce problem
Some harvests have already started across the country despite farms and ranches facing labor shortages. Where will workers come from to ensure crops don’t go unharvested? U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins recently made a suggestion. In a news conference Rollins said, “So, no amnesty under any circumstances, mass deportations continue, ...
MAHA Report: a failure on several levels
When the MAHA report was released, readers quickly noticed what were later referred to as “formatting errors.” Those errors included footnotes and citations that didn’t exist and were apparently the result of “hallucinations” by report writers relying on AI rather than doing the work to understand existing research. What is ...
Fourth of July cookout costs emphasize the need for agriculture
As in years’ past, the American Farm Bureau Federation highlights our food production history by examining the cost of cooking for our family and friends on Fourth of July in the present. The West Coast has retained the dubious distinction of being the most expensive region of the country to ...
Context matters when considering immigration enforcement
According to most recent data, 44 percent of farmworkers in the U.S. are undocumented. However, it is hard to know with certainty how accurate that percentage is with some estimates hovering around 50 percent and others as high as 75 percent. The U.S. National Agricultural Worker Survey (NAWS) breaks down ...
