agriculture needs of the nation. it is estimated that agriculture employs 1.2 million unauthorized workers with special skills and abilities. first, a workable solution must address the need for the work force. must agriculture work is demanding. agriculture does not attract a domestic work force. let me be clear, we strongly support the overhaul that has been able to use it. i respectfully request that the study released by the national council of agriculture employers illustrated the flaws in the program be submitted in the regard. if it could be improved, reform of the program alone cannot stabilize the foreign labor situation. >> without objection, that report will be entered. >> thank you. it is impossible for the program to scale up quickly from admitting 50,000 workers to admitting the larger numbers agriculture will need. an example in texas, about 100,000 workers currently fill a need of farm jobs each year. in 2009, 2,807 were certified. meaning the program fills 1.8% of the texas department of labor. to ens

admitting 50,000 workers to admitting the larger numbers agriculture will need. an example in texas, about 100,000 workers currently fill a need of farm jobs each year. in 2009, 2,807 were certified. meaning the program fills 1.8% of the texas department of labor. to ensure the industry a future work force, we need a model that is more flexible and marketable. congress lungren is offering a visa. it requires a visa, criminal background check and incentives for workers to abide by the visas and return home when the work is done. the closer a new program comes to replicating the way, the farm force moves now to the crops and it will meet the needs. to ensure the programs work, it will need to be submitted by the department of agriculture, instead of the department of labor. a workable program may meet the needs of the dairy and livestock industries. these operations have difficulty finding workers and their need is year round. any solution must avoid disruption of the industry and experience the labor force within our industry. any solutions must deal on a practical

and the agricultural needs of the nation. it is estimated that agriculture threes between 900,000 and 1.2 million unauthorized workers with special skills and abilities. any solution must address the following. first, a workable solution must deal with the industry's ongoing need for a future workforce, because much agricultural work is seasonal, intermittent and demanding, agriculturingagricul attract a domestic workforce. let me be clear, we strongly support an overhaul to help those who have been able to utilize it. i respectfully request that the study released by the national council of agriculture employers illustrating the major flaws of the h2a program be submitted into the record. even if h2a could be substantially improved reform of that program alone cannot stabilize the foreign labor situation. >> without objection, that report will be entered into the record. >> yep, good, thank you. it is impossible for the program to scale up quickly from admitting 50,000 to 60,000 workers to admitting the larger numbers agricul

chairman smith, the american specialty agriculture act adopts what is needed by the employers. for that reason, you endorsed the chairman's bill last fall. the barn act introduced by representative kingston include the improvements that agriculture employers suggest or needed. other proposals scan the program for specific areas like dairy and sheep and goat herding. finally, there is the current investigation of the 12-year-old agriculture job bill to seek the undocumented work force without adding a single worker to inadequate supply. rather than solve the problems with the current program, agriculture jobs would make many of them worse. agriculture jobs will not solve our problems. many agriculture groups supported the proposal in the past are not supporting it now. i applaud the committee for the focus and deliberate work to solve the crisis. your focus on this issue is critical. unfortunately, the issue of farm labor has become linked to the broader immigration debate and the agriculture industry is a political hostage. it is clear that amnesty alone for undocumented worker

the u.s. for seasonal agriculture work. members of the judiciary subcommittee on immigration heard from farm experts from georgia, california and north carolina. they discussed what to do with agricultural workers in the country illegally. this is about an hour and 20 minutes. >> i'll call to order the subcommittee on the policy and enforcement. today, we have a hearing on regional perspectives on agriculture guest worker programs. good morning to all. today's subcommittee hearing represents our third hearing on the issue of seasonal agricultural labor and guest worker program. this is a complex issue which impacts not only farm workers and agricultural employees, but also u.s. workers and local communities in the united states and the american taxpayer. this is a critical issue to the u.s. agriculture because real world experience has shown that there are simply not enough americans willing to work as migrant farm workers. the labor intensive branch of agriculture, fruits and vegetables and horticulture specialties employs

among the speakers, agriculture secretary tom vilsack and new jersey representative frank pallone. this is an hour, ten minutes. i just want to tell you that i think we're very, very honored today to have the secretary of agriculture. i was speaking to him a few moments ago, and he was mayor for five years of pleasant, iowa, i believe it was -- mount pleasant, iowa. i think once you're mayor, you're always a mayor. you know, you kind of go around cities and you're looking at streets and you're looking at stores and residential neighborhoods and all that. but so he is now secretary of agriculture. and they gave me a little bit of literature. i just want to read one thing. i want to turn it over to him so he can make remarks. and then i want this to be a dialogue to where we have a little bit of a question and answer and talk to him about some of the things that we're doing. but one thing in particular is that he entered into a partnership with the department of energy and the u.s. navy to invest up to $510 million during the next three years to produce advanced drop in aviation marin

and the same thing as the commission on agricultural workers said in 1992. we need to modernize labor practice, improve wages to attract and retain the farm workers. stop relying on the desperation abroad to bring in vulnerable workers on restricted nonimmigrant visas. we need to end the discrimination against farm workers. they don't get overtime pay. we need to do to things to stabilize the work force and treat them as human beings and we need immigration reform because more than half the farm workers are undocumented. we should give them the same opportunity that this nation of immigrants has given to other people. to become immigrants, leading to citizenship so they have bargaining power and they earn the right to become citizens who can actually vote and have an impact. >> thank you, gentlemen. chairman? >> could i make a correction, so i won't offend anybody. the definition of native americans are those who are defined to have been there for when we all came. so i wanted to establish whether u.s. citizens other than those who have come from out of the c

capitalism survived the transition from the agricultural economy to the industrial economy in the 19th century. it's going to survive the transition, the information

that is why, when we talk about the whole issue of wages, in agriculture one of the things i'm glad we have been doing in our study is explode the myth that we under pay people. that those that are doing the productive work. but the fact is that there's still minimum wage jobs left and having flexibility is important. >> mr. wange eer >> i think when you set wages at a certain level and you will see that people will find what that wage should be. there will be things that will have a higher wage rate because the work is harder. maybe others you do not is have the same responsibility. let the market determine here we are agriculture, i can think of a industry that is more market driven. >> we are tied to a state minimum wage and we are looking for a base hourly wage rate that is predictable, i agree to an extent. the grower, skill sets you'll pay more than that base hourly wage rate. but it's so expensive to farm and what my members tell me consistently is this, lee, all i know is that over the last 20 years our wage rates have gone up 4.7% a year. i'm scared to go to the bank and push

it is based on the usda survey of agricultural employers wages. it includes wage rates paid to undocumented workers and because undocumented workers are willing to work for less than u.s. citizens, that survey is resulting in the depressed wage rates. in addition, -- >> yet my harvesters back home can't compete because there are too many being hired illegally at less than the effective wage rate. >> we liked to legalize the undocumented work force and have greater enforcement of farm workers rights. you know, you just heard the gentleman, mr. wenger, was saying that some of the workers are making $30 an hour. i've been talking to some growers who say, you know, our workers make an average of $10 an hour, but can't we find a way to work together on the solution, maybe pay them 15 bucks an hour plus some health insurance? >> yet you don't have the flexibility. commissioner black? >> when we talk -- when you set things, one of our growers this year completed his work, completed his work, turned the paperwork in and in the process they were charged one

that's why i really -- when we talk about the whole issue of wages in agriculture, one of the thingsthat we have been able to do in our study is kind of explode the myth that we underpay people. >> right. >> those that are doing the productive work. but the facts are that there are some minimum wage jobs still to -- i

the public. there are interests, community interests in urban agriculture projects. would be great to have a request for proposals so that people could give their input, as there seemed to be more and more requests as the project go and go. thank you very much. >> why are you closing down? >> the agreement -- the mayor's executive directive at budget city agencies to make land available. we were a project with economic workforce development. this was always land slated for development. it was given to us on an interim basis. turned into something productive in a big community space, we were always aware that it would thank you. >> thank you for your comments. as a reminder, part of the reason that the puc came into this space was in response to the mayoral directive for public agencies to identify land that might be available for these purposes. i want to thank the staff and community for helping us move forward with this. i have a big interest in it as well. i want to help it proceed in any way possible, moving through the workshop and open house, where in the next m

they've been the unsung heroes of our economy and that's the people in agriculture. over the last decade they've been one of the shining lights for our state, and we need to remember we're the second most diverse agricultural state in the nation and we're going to continue to grow and do better so i want to say thank you to everyone in the agriculture industry. [ applause ] finally tourism is on a positive path. pure michigan is working well. now we just need more snow. [ laughter ] as an extra note, i'm very excited about dropping the flag on thee week one of the premiere winter snowmobile competitions in the entire nation. [ applause ] and now i'd like to give special recognition, i'm pleased to say dan mussrue is here with us tonight in the audience. dan, stand up. [ applause ] most of us know dan's representing the grand hotel on mackinaw island, and we want to wish him happy birthday, 125 years and going strong. [ applause ] i also want to mention our team has been working with senator casperson and respective hookie among others on exciting opportunities in mini

the u.s. department of agriculture at this kind of level it's not surprising that. i mean though that's a sign of the power of the agriculture industry to to buy out concerns of the federal level around the food safety and the health of american citizens. and that is raj patel from the institute for food and development policy well that's going to do it for tonight for more on the stories we covered you can head over to our to dot com slash usa and check out our you tube page it's youtube dot com slash r t america you can also follow me on twitter at liz wall for now have a great night. wealthy british style. time because. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with my next concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on r g. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom hardy is a big. macs kaiser this is a kaiser

vologda lies far to the north of the rich agricultural area of russia known as the "black earth" zone. the soil is much poorer here, and vologda faces many other constraints on its agriculture, as rural geographer anatoli christobaev explains. ( speaking russian ) translator: poor soils are characteristic for the n-black soil aaof russi. the soils are sandy, sometimes loamy. in the best case, we have, relatively speaking, the most fertile soils. in spite of the abundant precipitation, we need irrigation for soil improvement. the climate is moderately continental, with rather cold winters. the lowest winter temperatures vary between minus 40 and minus 42 degrees. ( christobaev continuing speaking russian ) translator: summers are short and may be rather warm-- up to 30 degrees centigrade. the summer season is only three months long; spring starts late, trees start to bud by the end of may. ( christobaev continuing speaking russian ) narrator: so the physical geography here is not very good for raising crops. but it is well suited for something else... ( cows mooing ) dairy farming. man

the u.s. department of agriculture at this kind of level it's not surprising that. i mean though that's a sign of the power of the agriculture industry to. the federal level. food safety and the health of american citizens and raj i just want to jump in because i want to show you something that might exemplify all this take a listen to cooking show host paula deen on the today show i was diagnosed three years ago and i will go on a regular physical exam with my doctor that i had type two diabetes and i'm here today to let the world know. that. it is not a death. i'm working with a very reputable pharmaceutical company. so we don't have that much time raj unfortunately but here's an example she's been diagnosed with diabetes and if you've seen what she's cox it's not hard to figure out how that happened so now she's going about this you know going on about this great pharmaceutical company that's going to treat her which she has agreed to work with now she is making money off of her own illness and so are the pharmaceutical companies we just have a little bit of time

but times have changed significantly since his visit in the mid 1980s for the agriculture economy and the business between america's farms and china's kitchen tables. for midwestern growers, the rising demand from china shows few signs of cresting anytime soon. over the past decade chinese purchases of all iowa commodities have skyrocketed, from less than $25 million in 2009 to nearly $600 million in 2010. >> how do you read market signs and signals? >> that is probably the toughest part of farming-- to market our crops. >> reporter: iowa corn and soybean farmer rick kimberely hosted the chinese leader and his 2,000 acre operation. he believes the asian power is a premiere buyer of u.s. grain today and well into the future. >> to give you a little background, exports-- we export 55% of the soybeans that are grown in the nation, not only in iowa but in the nation. and 60% of that number if exported to china. so that is a huge number. >> reporter: in 2011 the multi- billion dollar chinese market surpassed canada to become the top destination of u.s. farm exports. but american officials

power of the agriculture industry to to buy out concerns at a federal level around the food safety and that that the health of american citizen at. that was raj patel from the institute for food and development policy well the alona show is coming up in just a half hour let's check in with a lot to see what is on today's agenda hi there alone at well can we look forward to. well we've got quite a story for you today just two days ago we had a man named tenet colonel daniel al davis on the show who had submitted a classified report to congress telling them that he thought that the pentagon had been misleading to both congress and the public about this idea of success in afghanistan so he wanted to tell the real story he came on the program told us what he could like i said this is all classified and i asked him if he thought that they would go after him for this because nobody likes critique and what do you know it turns out the reports are saying today that indeed an investigation has been launched by the pentagon so we're going to talk about this expanding war and whistleblowers and s

the urban agriculture pilot program the have supported and a lot of work happening around planning in the southeast. the community benefits program priorities will be launching the contract assistance center this summer that will be based in the southeast sector of san francisco which will look to build the capacity to look at other citywide work and we will scale up the requirements program for contracting and implementing the environmental justice policy the commission adopted in 2009 we have yet to implement. we will be moving into implementation with arts in richmond workman of -- arts in richmond work and we will be providing information -- e partsnrichment half that is what we have been up to norplant are and i'm happy to take questions. -- that is what we have been up to and i would be happy to take questions. >> with respect to the urban agriculture pilot program, could you develop a little bit on that? >> over the past several years problem we have been asking staff to look at where are there opportunities for secondary use on puc property. working with the mayor's office aft

the losses to the agriculture community were significant, to be sure, but at the same time the agricultural community in the central valley prospered. having the best years to any previous year that occurred during this drought period. certain farmers were shorted, no doubt about that, but they had a contract that called for those shortages. now, let us understand that this bill has profound implications on every state, some 21 states that have contracts with the bureau of reclamation. this bill, should it pass and become law, is a signal to every state that you cannot count on state law allocating the water within your district. instead, it will be congress that will allocate the water within your state. that is a profound change. 100 years of reclamation law are pushed aside by this piece of legislation. and for the state of california, it is a total preemption of state law, a total preemption of state law and state constitution is pushed aside. there is within the california constitution a thing called the public trust. the legislature and the government of california holds in trust for

where every worker, every person who goes to the fields feels pride in being part of the agriculture industry that's putting food on millions of tables every day and that the worker is getting patd enough to put food on the table of his own home. >> reporter: the coalition of immokalee workers and its allies in religious faith groups say they have much to do. that includes a new national campaign focused on supermarket chains which have decline tods participate in the penny-per-pound pay agreement. >> the leaders of the fast food industry are on board. all that remains are the supermarkets. >> an opportunity to keep what we have. >> reporter: to keep pressure on the stores, farm workers regularly reach out to religious leaders and congregations. this morning jordan and workers from immokalee are addressing a church in naples, florida. these speaking engagements are part of a sustained campaign p to get people of faith thinking about fairness and jfrs when they sit down to eat. brigitte gynther of interfaith action has opinion working in immokalee for eight years on behalf of workers.

one thing we did in the agricultural sector called the michigan agricultural environmental insurance program which was to help farmers get precertified. they go through a certification program and get a credential to say this means you're doing essentially best practice. and if you have an issue before we can penalize you we're going to review your records on how we can help you be successful before they even have to worry about being punished because they've made a good investment in in being smart and thoughtful. >> mr. payne. >> let me thank you for your very interesting testimony. let me ask both of you this question. we all know too well that many public schools and community colleges across the country are in desperate need of repairs and the folks who can make those repairs are ready, willing and able to work, very anxious. every governor knows the challenges, and we do too in congress, is paying for it. the americans job act directly addressed this need with the common sense approach to both fix schools and put folks back to work. it's a win-win across the board. specifically

. >> the agriculture department says the nation's cattle herd is the smallest it has been in 60 years. there are about 91 million cattle in the united states. beef prices could rise 5% this year. experts believe the recent drought in the southwest is playing a major part in the shortage. >> the first move has been made to get a costco built in the district. in addition to costco, a marshalls and shoppers food warehouse are also planned. it will bring at least 400 jobs to the washington area. >> wasn't ready when they were breaking ground? >> it may have been. i am not sure what time they did that. it cleared out and we had a very nice day. winter clique -- winter keeping its distance from us. let's give you a look at our hd camera time lapse. this will take you to a short time ago. clots are starting to break up and clear out and i think overnight there will be diminishing winds and very chilly temperatures. that is the very latest. as far as numbers around the area, it was a very enjoyable in the afternoon. temperatures reached 51 degrees at -- 58 degrees at reagan national airport.

proposal to exempt working farms from the estate tax, this measure will much better protect the agricultural lands upon which family farming depends, and it will better protect the waters of the bay and it will save all of us a huge amount of money in remediation costs down the road. [ applause ] i'd like to talk with you now about a quality of civil marriage rights for all marylanders. the very reason our state was founded was for religious freedom. and at the heart of religious freedom is respect for the freedom of individual conscience. the way forward, the way to sustain and enhance our common life together is equal respect for the freedom of all. we all want the same thing for our children. we want our children to live in a loving, caring, committed and stable home committed and stable home, protected equally under the law. and it is not right and it is not just that the children of gay couples should have lesser protections than the children of other families in our state. nor would it be right to force religious institutions to conduct marriages that conflict with their own religious

millions of pounds of fruit are canned and processed here in the small agricultural town of corning, t 25 miles from chico. scott patton, who has 200 acres, is one of many family growers who supply the company with manzanilla olives. >> my grandpa started back in the early fifties, and my dad, jim patton, really brought the--and kind of organized the whole orchards and got things going, and... why i like olives? olives are good for you. olives--we were just talking about olive extract. you can eat an olive, and it helps reduce cholesterol. there's a lot of good thin about olives. olive oil--that's a greathing. >> but tell m a little bit--these are your babies basically. >> well, yes, they are. yes. a lot of times you'll get years where there's just aolive here a@d an olive there. but the pollination was great this year, so we have olives pretty uniformly in the--throughout the canopy. so we sell--the majority of our olives go to bell-carter. um, they've been great for the industry, and they produce a great, great product. >> california's weather is perfect for olives, and some of thes

>> the president called for net savings over ten years out of agriculture of $32 billion. that's a little above where we were at the end of last year, the bipartisan agreement between the republicans and democrats on the agriculture committee, the senate and the house. we agreed there to $23 billion of net savings, so the president is asking for somewhat more. i prefer the number that we came up with last year but it is in the ballpark. >> where do those come from? >> well, those savings are going to come from i think virtually everyone has agreed from a reduction in direct payments. >> house today said they want to replace the see questered 1.2 trillion and they talked about that and this was agreed upon as the backup mechanism in case the committee failed last year. i guess my question is to what extent does the fact that both sides are now backing away from the sequester give credence to people, the public's concern that you guys are actually kind of fiscally cowardly when it comes to the hard decisions? >> the president's budget would more than replace the savings of th

the agriculture department is saying that the nation's cattle herd is now at the smallest it has been in 60 years. the reason for that is because of the drought that has been in the southwest. because of the smaller heard we could see beef prices go up about 5% higher. that is what is happening right now in the kron4 news room. >>darya: the man charged in the 30 year-old strangling of another man in mclaren park will be arraigned today. he is accused of killing a man at mclaren park in san francisco in 1983. he was arrested on monday after police say they determined dna evidence links him to the crime. he has denied knowing the man. third >>mark: the woman accused of dropping her son from a window will be in court today to arrange a preliminary hearing. she has been charged with child endangerment and abuse. authorities say she threw her son from the window and jumped out herself. the child was barely heard. >>darya: we are back with more and a couple of minutes. here is a live look outside on this thursday morning. a beautiful shot from our mt. tam cam. nice and sunny. the weekend lo

the agriculture department said beef prices going up. the problem ranchers keeping fewer cattle. corn is expensive because of the drought and ranchers can't afford to feed them. >> with reexpecting to see higher prices. i'm concerned about that because it could get to point where it affects folks going out to eat and we could see a problem. >> how much more will be have to pay? last beef prices rose 10%. ranchers say we are -- it won't be as bad if not worse than 2011 but it's going up. >>> speaking of prices have you checked the price at the pump? aaa said the national average is $3.44 a gallon. now keep that in mind when you hear that exxon made $9 billion in the 4th quarter. that's up over this time last year and over the quarter before, they of course are the largest oil company in america. >> warning tonight for women who take birth control. phizer is recalling pills because of a packaging error. the drugs on the screen, they found that some packet has to many active tablets while others had to few. the company said there isn't anything wrong with them but having the wrong l