Looking Ahead at Q1 2023 in Agtech

Labor remains a top challenge for specialty crops, and it’s getting harder to find. U.S. farmworkers decreased by 70 percent in 70 years, regulatory costs increased 795 percent in 12 years, and U.S. H-2A labor increased from 48,000 in 2005 to 300,000 in 2021—which add transportation and housing costs. Innovation remains the best solution to turn manual tasks like planting, weeding, thinning, harvesting and spraying into automated tasks with mechanization and automation.

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Walt Duflock

Cal/OSHA Reminds California Employers About Work-Related Injury and Illness Reporting Date

Cal/OSHA is reminding California employers to post their 2022 annual summary of work-related injuries and illnesses, which includes COVID-19-related illness, by February 1 using Form 300A.

In addition, employers in California that meeting one of the following requirements are required to electronically submit Form 300A injury and illness data by March 2, 2023:

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Kara Timmins

Western Growers Co-Sponsors 2022 Organic Grower Summit

This year the Organic Grower Summit in Monterey, Calif. on Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2022 again provided growers with firsthand knowledge and information in areas ranging from agtech to food safety to sustainability.

The Grower of the Year was awarded to Jeff Huckaby, President of Grimmway Farms, headquartered in Bakersfield, Calif. During Huckaby’s 25-year tenure at Grimmway, the company’s organic program grew from several hundred acres to more than 40,000 acres of certified organic ground.

Among the panels that took place:

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