Surely every Vermonter sympathizes with the plight of migrant farm workers, who are far from home, away from family, navigating a foreign language, working 64 hours/week for $7.75/hour and living in substandard housing. But as to “playing a vital role in the health of the state’s agricultural industry” let’s put sympathy momentarily aside and have a cold, hard look at an underlying problem.
First, the FMMO price for milk in November 2023 for farms in New England was +/- $26/cwt, which is a hair’s breadth above cost for farms milking over 1,500 cows — about a quarter of the +/-600 dairies we have left — and well below cost for the other 475. So, with or without migrant workers, the vast majority of Vermont’s dairy farmers are losing money.
Second, “agriculture” — which in Vermont predominantly means conventional dairy — is the largest contributor to lake pollution in the state (45%), the third largest contributor to Vermont’s GHG emissions (16%) and by far the largest emitter of GHG in Addison County (55%). In spite of a steady stream of denials issuing from the agency of agriculture and their apologists at state, these figures have not changed materially for decades. In fact, the GHG emission numbers are growing steadily.
Third, in 1938, the United States enacted The Fair Labor Standards Act which provides that nonexempt workers are entitled to a minimum wage of not less than $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. Overtime pay at a rate not less than one and one-half...
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