New rule requires Ohio farmers to upgrade migrant housing

Aug 22, 2016

Regulation goes into effect Jan. 1, 2017

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Beginning in January 2017, new regulations in Ohio will require farmers to make improvements to migrant worker camps.

The rule was instituted by Ohio’s Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review. Some of the included improvements are sinks with hot and cold water in existing buildings, the installation of smoke detectors and the requirement that non-flush toilets be emptied and cleaned weekly.

According to the Toledo Blade, farm owners will have five years to make sure migrant worker camps have hot and cold running water. It’s estimated to cost about $500 per unit to install a sink for hand washing.

Washing Hands
Getty

The Common Sense Initiative, which is associated with the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, wrote in an analysis that the regulations will benefit the health of migrant workers.

“Washing hands before and after you eat, use the restroom, [and] prepare food prevents the spread of disease. People are much more likely to practice good hand washing when facilities are readily available,” the analysis says, according to The Blade. “Running water in a housing unit where you are sleeping and eating is a basic necessity for human habitation."

According to the Ohio Latino Affairs Commission, there are 104 agricultural labor camps in the state.

Eugenio Mollo, an attorney at Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, told The Blade that keeping migrant workers healthy and happy can help farmers.

“It’s not good for the overall agriculture industry if there isn’t an adequate labor supply to do the farm work,” he said. “And this makes sure our food is being harvested with the highest level of food safety in mind.”

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.