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Dialuna 16 augustus 2021
Rural population losses add to farm and
ranch labor shortage
(AP) — Rural America lost more population
in the latest census, highlighting an already
severe worker shortage in the nation’s farm-
ing and ranching regions and drawing calls
“Señor ta mi wardador, mi’n tin falta di nada from those industries for immigration reform
Den cunucu di yerba berde e ta ponemi to help ease the problem.
sosega.
E ta hibami na awa trankil,
Pa mi bolbe haña forsa”. The census data released last week showed that
Salmo: 23 population gains in many rural areas were driven
by increases in Hispanic and Latino residents,
Cu hopi tristesa y dolor na nos curason pero many of whom come as immigrants to work on
conforme cu boluntad di Dios, nos ta anuncia farms or in meatpacking plants or to start their own
fayecimento inespera di nos casa, tata y businesses.
abuelo stima:
“We’ve struggled on this issue for a long time to
try to come up with a more reasonable, common-
sense approach,” said John Hansen, president of
the Nebraska Farmers Union, which is part of a
group lobbying Congress for new immigration that are often perceived as mostly white.
laws. Vilifying immigrants “just makes it harder to
get there.” “In the rural areas, if you didn’t have the Latino
growth, employers would be struggling even more
The population trend is clear in Nebraska, where just to fill those positions,” Drozd said.
only 24 of the state’s 93 counties gained resi-
dents. Of those 24, just eight reported an increase In New Mexico, populations declined across 20
in the white population, suggesting that most of rural counties that stretch from the Great Plains at
Felix F. Wilford the growth was driven by minorities, said David Oklahoma to the U.S. border with Mexico. Des-
Cariñosamente yama “Tata of Daddy” Drozd, a research coordinator for the University perate for laborers for its annual chile harvest, the
*24-04-1947 - †11-08-2021 of Nebraska Omaha’s Center for Public Affairs state this week pledged up to $5 million in feder-
Research.
al pandemic relief to subsidize wages for pickers
and workers at chile-processing plants — boosting
Drozd crunched the census data and found that available wages as high as $19.50 an hour.
Acto di despedida lo wordo anuncia despues Nebraska counties with the greatest racial diversity
are a “who’s who of where the meatpacking plants Some Republican state legislators blamed the la-
are,” even though many plants are in rural areas bor scarcity on supplemental unemployment ben-
efits, which they say create a disincentive to work
because they pay more than some low-wage jobs.
Democrats see a persistent labor crisis.
The New Mexico Chile Association trade group
says the industry is short about 1,350 seasonal la-
borers of the 3,000 workers needed.
The problem is just as bad for poultry farmers in
North Carolina, where meat processors help pow-
er the economies of many rural counties. Half of
“Señor ta mi wardador, mi’n tin falta di nada Laga tur loke ta spera mi ta bunita the state’s 100 counties have lost residents since
Den cunucu di yerba berde e ta ponemi Laga tur locual cu mi encontra na 2010, the census data showed.
sosega. caminda ta bunita
E ta hibami na awa trankil, Laga tur locual cu mi laga atras keda Bob Ford, executive director of the North Carolina
Pa mi bolbe haña forsa”. bunita y
Salmo: 23 Poultry Federation, predicted that labor shortages
Laga esakinan termina den tur buniteza. at poultry plants will only worsen as people contin-
Cado Wever. ue to leave rural communities and migrant workers
Cu profundo tristesa nos ta anuncia gravitate to other industries, such as building and
fayecimento di: Cu hopi tristesa pero conforme cu tur locual construction.
cu e a nicfica pa nos, nos ta anuncia He said higher pay for workers and better health
fayecimento di nos ser stima:
care and housing benefits could help alleviate
widespread labor shortages, but broader changes to
immigration policy are probably the best solution.
The National Pork Producers Council is push-
ing federal lawmakers to change the H-2A visa
program so that migrant workers can remain em-
ployed longer.
Bladen County, North Carolina, is home to the
Mario Willems world’s largest pig slaughterhouse, Smithfield
Foods’ Tar Heel plant. Between 2010 and 2020,
*22-03-1938 - †12-08-2021 Juan de Dios Liberio Kock the county’s population dropped by 15.9%. Bertie
Cariñosamente yama “Juancho” of “Opa” County, which is home to a large Perdue Farms
Acto di entiero lo wordo *30-12-1949 - †13-08-2021 poultry processing facility, saw a population de-
crease of 15.7%.
anuncia despues Acto di entiero lo wordo anuncia despues In Kansas, some rural Republicans say Congress
needs to find a practical solution.
