As harvest season looms, agriculture and farmworker groups in Oregon clash over COVID regulations
Updated Feb 18, 2021;
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By Jake Thomas | Salem Reporter
As Willamette Valley farmers and agricultural workers prepare for the 2021 season, a regulatory battle is playing out over state rules intended to reduce the risk of COVID spreading in farmworker housing.
The Oregon Farm Bureau is seeking to overturn state regulations intended to protect agricultural workers from COVID, arguing the requirements are forcing farmhands into crowded and unsafe conditions. But in Marion County, a farmworkers’ group said that the regulations have made working conditions safer.
Last month, the Oregon Farm Bureau filed a petition with the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration targeting new requirements for agricultural workplace around social distancing, masking, cleaning, signage, reporting and others. The regulations apply to labor-intensive agricultural establishments