Sage Grouse Initiative & Piece Rate

Sage Grouse Initiative & Piece Rate

Sage Grouse Initiative & Piece Rate. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

During a press conference call yesterday, NRCS Chief Jason Weller announced the new NRCS Sage-Grouse Report, Success on the Range. Joining Weller on the call was Oregon rancher, John O'Keefe who has been working hard to put all the pieces of the initiative into place.

O'KEEFE: One of the things we can do in the Great Basin, we do the juniper control. It's one of the recognized threats to the grouse. Another thing we do, a huge issue in the Great Basin is fire and we address that in a couple different ways. We've got our livestock out there, we manage the fuel so these fires don't have the potential to get so big. What's good for the bird is good for the herd.

A court case involving break times for farm workers has ruled in favor of the workers. The ruling means that any workers who are paid by the number of pieces of fruit picked now have to be paid separately and additionally to their regular piece-rate pay. The ruling may apply to non-farm jobs as well for anyone paid a piece-rate. The issue began with a court case filed by workers at the Sakuma Brothers Farms in Washington's Skagit County berry growing region.

That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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