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Put yourselves in their shoes

For Cactus Family Farms, today’s farm employee stems from one of two main groups. The first being the local employees near their headquarters in Osceola, Iowa. According to HR Specialist Heather Vaughn, 80% of those local applicants are Hispanic. They often have little formal education or prior experience with pigs and sometimes speak traditional indigenous languages as well as Spanish.

The other side of that coin is a completely different pool of applicants. Through the North American Free Trade Agreement, they also have the option to hire employees with a TN visa. For this specific visa, applicants must either be from Canada or Mexico, however Vaughn says that the agriculture industry primarily relies on Mexican candidates.

Another specification to the TN visa is that they have to have some level of an advanced degree.

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The Next Pork Disease Outbreak? How Biosecurity Can Stop It Before It Starts!

Video: The Next Pork Disease Outbreak? How Biosecurity Can Stop It Before It Starts!

The threat of disease outbreaks remains one of the biggest challenges facing pork producers across North America. At the World Pork Expo, I spoke with Rob Hannam, CEO of Farm Health Guardian, to discuss why biosecurity is more critical than ever and how innovative technology is helping producers reduce risk before disease reaches the farm.
In this interview, Rob explains how Farm Health Guardian's advanced biosecurity platform helps pork operations monitor and manage visitor access, track potential disease exposure pathways, and strengthen on-farm biosecurity protocols. With recent outbreaks of diseases such as ASF, PRRS, PED and others continuing to impact global pork production and ongoing concerns surrounding the spread of endemic diseases, proactive prevention measures have become essential for protecting herd health and business continuity.
Learn how digital biosecurity tools can help producers identify risks, improve compliance, and create stronger defenses against costly disease outbreaks. Discover why leading pork operations are adopting technology-driven biosecurity solutions to safeguard animals, employees, and the future of the industry.