White House Takes Agriculture Angle on Immigration Reform

Jul 30, 2013

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

As the immigration debate heats up in the United States, the White House aims to highlight the importance of the legislation in American agriculture.

The White House released a report featuring a number of studies which discuss the important role that non-citizen farmworkers play in the agricultural industry. The report finds that close to half of crop and livestock workers, 43 percent, are immigrant workers. Given these statistics, the White House argues that agriculture would only seek to benefit from immigration reform.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack argues that an overhaul of immigration laws is needed as U.S. farmers and ranchers have expressed difficulties finding workers for certain jobs. The Senate passed an immigration mandate in June that would allow undocumented immigrants to become U.S. citizens, but the House has yet to pass its own legislation, which makes it less likely that an immigration bill will pass in 2013.

Video: A chain harrow is a game changer

Utilizing a rotational grazing method on our farmstead with our sheep helps to let the pasture/paddocks rest. We also just invested in a chain harrow to allow us to drag the paddocks our sheep just left to break up and spread their manure around, dethatch thicker grass areas, and to rough up bare dirt areas to all for a better seed to soil contact if we overseed that paddock. This was our first time really using the chain harrow besides initially testing it out. We are very impressed with the work it did and how and area that was majority dirt, could be roughed up before reseeding.

Did you know we also operate a small business on the homestead. We make homemade, handcrafted soaps, shampoo bars, hair and beard products in addition to offering our pasture raised pork, lamb, and 100% raw honey. You can find out more about our products and ingredients by visiting our website at www.mimiandpoppysplace.com. There you can shop our products and sign up for our monthly newsletter that highlights a soap or ingredient, gives monthly updates about the homestead, and also lists the markets, festivals, and events we’ll be attending that month.