At Agbiz's annual information session in Pretoria, its economists explained how the Employment Services Amendment Bill would tighten rules on hiring foreign workers and raise penalties for employers, while trade data showed farm exports up 10 percent.
The National Farmers' Federation welcomed fast-tracked Working Holiday Maker cases but called for a return to regular processing and a purpose-built agricultural visa.
The National Farmers' Federation says it was not consulted on Working Holiday Maker visa changes that include a ballot and caps on second- and third-year visas, warning that backpackers make up to 80 per cent of horticulture's peak harvest workforce, after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the AB
A two-day tour of the Salinas Valley and Bakersfield found California's fruit and vegetable growers squeezed by compliance costs that have risen 1,366% in under 20 years, overtime rules that cut workers' hours, scarce labour, and cheaper competition from Peru and Mexico.
At the 2026 SA Olive Awards in Paarl, industry chairman Richard Allen warned that recovering global supply and lower prices are pressing small producers to become more efficient, judges from Brazil and Turkey noted rising quality, Het Vlock Casteel's Denise Bergman was named an Agri Worker of the Ye
A MoneyGeek analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data counts 175 farmers, ranchers and agricultural managers killed at work in 2024 and 147 other agricultural workers, with transport incidents the leading cause; the fatality rate is nearly six times the national average.
Antrim County farmer Greg Shooks, who has used H-2A for eight years on 1,100 acres of cherries, wine grapes, grains and hay, met eight congressional offices with Michigan Farm Bureau after a California ruling threw Adverse Effect Wage Rates back into chaos; his ask is the Supporting Agriculture's Wo
FruitsIn the 2024 harvest, 25,000-30,000 women sorting and counting litchis in Ishwardi, Pabna, were paid Tk 400-500 a day; they said they earned less than men for equal work, while growers said men are paid more for climbing the trees.
