Florida

Battle over migrant farmworker wages in Florida as farmers face rising costs

Published

1 year ago

September 17, 2024

Press Room

Migrant farmworker wages in Florida

Mark Wilson reports

TAMPA, Fla. – Criss-crossing the back roads of Florida, you’ll see just how fruitful the state is. Watermelons, peppers, corn and many more crops fill the landscape. Each one is unique, but the farmers who grow them share one growing problem: labor.

Their issue isn’t finding labor. It’s how much their labor force makes. The amount per hour that migrant farmworkers make may surprise you. The Florida state minimum wage is $12 per hour. The minimum wage for migrant farmworkers in Florida is $14.77.

The vast majority of farmworkers in Florida come through the federal H-2A program. It allows farmers to bring reliable foreign labor into the U.S. for seasonal work. In addition to paying the minimum wage set by the government, farmers are also required to pay for the workers’ transportation into the country and pay for housing.

Farmers like Matt Parke, of Parkesdale Farms, say those costs are starting to add up.

“There’s got to be a breaking point. Do I know what it is? We haven’t got there yet, but we’re getting close,” he said.

Florida has more H-2A workers than any other state in the U.S., topping 51,000. In the last four years, their minimum wage has increased 26%. Parke says that high cost takes a huge bite out of his profits.

We visited him recently and watched his workers pick through a field of peppers. He said he’d be lucky to break even on what they were picking that day.

“There’s days where we’re losing money by picking. I mean, that’s just how it goes.”

Labor cost isn’t an issue for just Florida farmers. Forty-five states and territories have a higher migrant minimum wage than Florida’s $14.77. California is the state with the highest at $19.75.

Senator Rick Scott is one of 16 senators across the country who recently signed a letter to congressional leaders requesting a freeze on the H-2A minimum wage.

“You don’t want to put yourself in a position that you can’t, as a farmer, you can’t compete globally. We’re in a global market, but we shouldn’t be increasing their costs,” he said.

“How cruel do you have to be? Especially, you know, with the wealth that senators themselves have and yet they have no hesitation to suppress wages of the people that feed us and who build this state in this country,” says Ernesto Ruiz with The Farmworker Association of Florida.

He thinks the $14.77 rate isn’t high enough.

“It’s brutal. It is grueling, grueling work. It is grueling work, and it carries a bunch of risks. And typically, in society, we tend to pay to some extent commensurate with risk.”

Another large part of the issue for farmers is competition south of the border. Wholesalers want to buy the cheapest food. Since a Mexican farmer has lower labor cost, they can afford to sell food for less.

Matt Parke says his workers make between $150 and $200 a day. In Mexico, farmworkers can make as little as $10 a day.

“When two thirds of my cost is labor, how do you compete with somebody that’s not even 15% of their cost as labor? I mean, how can I compete with that?” questions Parke.

At the current rate of increases, the H-2A minimum could be more than $20 an hour by 2026.

“Within the next three years, you’re going to see a lot less farmers out here than there is now,” says Parke.

His biggest fear? Some day you won’t be able to find any “Product of the U.S.” stickers in your produce department.

“That would be the great fall of the United States. We’re working that way though.”

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Florida

Indiana Fever player has her Florida State women’s basketball jersey retired

Published

6 hours ago

November 17, 2025

Press Room

Indiana Fever player has her Florida State women’s basketball jersey retired

Indiana Fever forward Natasha Howard’s Florida State jersey was retired Sunday.

Howard wore No. 33 for the Seminoles from 2010-14, starting 127 games. She also holds heralded spots in program history:

1,811 points, fourth-most
1,046 rebounds, second
186 blocked shots, fourth

Howard’s scoring total was second when she left the program. She led FSU in career rebounds before Fever teammate Makalya Timpson (2021-25) grabbed more. The blocks were third most when Howard left, but Timpson has more.

The Fever selected Howard fifth overall in the 2014 WNBA Draft, and she played her first two seasons in Indiana. She returned in 2025 free agency, averaging 11.4 points and 6.6 rebounds for the league semifinalists.

Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at capeterson@gannett.com or follow her on X at @chloepeterson67. Subscribe to IndyStar’s YouTube page for Fever Insiders Live.

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Florida

Coast Guard rescues eight boaters 35 miles off Florida coast in disabled boat

Published

24 hours ago

November 16, 2025

Press Room

Coast Guard rescues eight boaters 35 miles off Florida coast in disabled boat

VENICE, Fla. (CBS12) — A Coast Guard boat crew rescued eight boaters on Saturday after their 26-foot boat broke down 35 miles off the Venice Inlet.

At 9:30 p.m., the US Coast Guard (USCG) says an Air Station Miami aircrew located the disabled vessel in two to three foot seas and sent a boat crew to the boat’s location.

The boat was reported overdue by an officer with the Venice Police Department hours earlier at 1:44 p.m., per USCG.

See also: Florida deputy rushes into blazing trailer to pull residents to safety

The Coast Guard says all eight boaters were brought back to the boat ramp uninjured.

“Before going out on the water, make sure you tell someone where you are going and when you will be back,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Tyler Beasley, a Station Cortez boarding officer. “We recommend being as specific as possible so rescue crews have a reliable place to start searching in case of emergency. Boaters should always have Coast Guard-approved life jackets, VHF radio, signaling devices, and an emergency position locator beacon or personal locator beacon.”

USCG also highlighted the importance of mariners taking a safety course before going on the water.

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Florida

Ole Miss football fans chant, ‘We want Lane’ as Rebels defeat Florida

Published

2 days ago

November 15, 2025

Press Room

Ole Miss football fans chant, ‘We want Lane’ as Rebels defeat Florida

Ole Miss football took home a win in the “Lane Kiffin Bowl” in Week 12 with a 34-24 come-from-behind win vs. Florida.

Just as the Rebels closed off their 10th win of the season, moving one step closer to appearing in the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history, Ole Miss fans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium made one thing clear to the Rebels brass and Kiffin: They want Lane.

As captured by the ESPN broadcast, “We want Lane” chants broke out in the Ole Miss student section after Kiffin has been linked to the Florida open head coach vacancy, on top of numerous other Power Four conference openings. It appeared not to faze him, as he remained locked in on the final 60 seconds of the game:

Given what he has done in seven seasons at Ole Miss, Kiffin has become a regular on coaching hot boards as positions become available across college football.

On top of his ties to the state of Florida, former Gators coach Steve Spurrier, who told USA TODAY Sports’ Blake Toppmeyer last month that he is a fan of Kiffin and thinks he is a “very good coach.”

“I wanted to be Steve Spurrier,” Kiffin said during a recent appearance on the “Pardon My Take” podcast. “When I watched him and his offenses in the visor and kind of the way he’d throw jabs at other coaches and team and stuff, I was like, Steve Spurrier is the man. That’s what I want to be.”

Kiffin himself has talked at length about his name being tossed around in the coaching carousel, including saying on an appearance on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” that he will never “make a decision based on money” and that he hasn’t made one based on money in his coaching career.

The win over Florida moved Ole Miss’ record to 54-19 overall under Kiffin.

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