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Farm and Ag Worker Education Act introduced in U.S. House
Legislation introduced in the U.S. House aims to enhance ag worker safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minnesota Republican Jim Hagedorn co-authored the Farm and Agricultural Worker Education Act alongside Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar.
Hagedorn tells Brownfield the bill puts an emphasis on the health and wellbeing of people who work in packing plants to those working in the barns.
“So since we’re in the coronavirus and we’re dealing with that and have seen just how devastating it can be to our supply chain when workers aren’t able to perform their work when we have these disruptions. We thought that this should be an angle we should look at to get the information out there to our rural areas.”
He says the bill would provide funding to land grant universities, historically black colleges and universities, and tribal colleges to develop and distribute relevant health and safety guidance to help farms, ag workers, and others along the supply chain respond to and safely conduct business during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, nearly 170 farm groups signed off on a letter to Vice President Pence calling for federal help in getting personal protective equipment and COVID-19 testing resources to ag workers.
Pence is head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, and the groups including American Farm Bureau, National Farmers Union, and the National Council of Farm Cooperatives want the task force to prioritize PPE and future vaccine distribution for the food and fiber supply chain.
