farm workers

Many ag industry and farm worker advocacy groups had high hopes that farm labor reform would make it through Congress last year. Now the future is murky.

For decades, corn detasseling was a customary summer job for teenagers in Nebraska and the rest of the Corn Belt. In recent years, however, agriculture companies are relying more on migrant labor to do this work through a visa program meant to supplement the local workforce.

The U.S. is on track to admit more agricultural guest workers than ever before, according to the Department of Labor. Most Midwestern states are on a similar trajectory.

More than four dozen workers have died from excessive heat in Texas, according to an investigation by Columbia Journalism Investigations, NPR and The Texas Newsroom.

This week’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court says employers can avoid settling disputes with workers in court.But that could harm people who work on…