By Brian DeVore for Civil Eats.Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Minnesota News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration Under pewter-colored skies, Alan Bedtka tramps through the snow and past a stand of sorghum-sudangrass, its chest-high stems rattling in the harsh wind. The tall forage stands out in southeastern Minnesota’s corn and soybean fields, which this time of year have been reduced to stubble poking through the snow. Bedtka is in his mid-30s and working to raising a small cow-calf beef herd profitably. .
An annual march for farmworkers rights is being held Sunday in northwest Washington. This year, marchers are focusing on the conditions for local tulip and daffodil workers. Alfredo Juarez, organizer for the farmworkers rights organization Community to Community Development, said tulip and daffodil harvesters are raising concerns about pay, pesticide use near where they are working and the need for clean restrooms. .
Fewer U.S. workers seem to be moving across state and county lines to “follow the season” for farm labor in Washington. Meanwhile, more guest workers are being hired.
Total hired farm labor in the state dropped 23 percent from 2017 to 2022, more than twice the national rate of decline. Migrant farm labor fell even more.
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