Lee Wicker News Today

Since mid-2019, North Carolina employers filed requests for more than 88,000 workers on H-2A visas. Only four states have requested more, federal data show.

Dorms are aging at a time when student enrollment this fall saw its first uptick after a few years of decline.

“Any material that we have had to purchase, 20% to 30% up on clamshells boxes, fertilizer over 100% up, fuel was crazy. Even this spring, with some of the crops bringing better pricing than last year, we still made more money last year because when you look at all of our costs with labor and everything being up, we didn’t do any better.” - Ron Cottle, Faison, N.C.

Two Senators are closer then ever before on an immigration-related bill that would provide a much-needed workforce for agriculture. But can they get the Farm Bureau on board the final sticking point?

Two Senators are closer than ever before on an immigration-related bill that would provide a much-needed workforce for agriculture. But can they get the Farm Bureau on board the final sticking point?

Two Senators are closer then ever before on an immigration-related bill that would provide a much-needed workforce for agriculture. But can they get the Farm Bureau on board the final sticking point?

Two Senators are closer then ever before on an immigration-related bill that would provide a much-needed workforce for agriculture. But can they get the Farm Bureau on board the final sticking point?

Introduction Two fathers and their sons traveled from Mexico this spring to grow and harvest North Carolina’s sweet potatoes, tobacco, Christmas trees and other crops. All four men held temporary H-2A nonimmigrant visas — permits U.S. employers use to sponsor foreign guest workers to fill seasonal labor shortages on farms.  In August, one of the fathers died of COVID-19. The other died weeks later. After both were buried in Mexico, their sons dutifully returned to North Carolina to keep wo...