Agriculture
New farm workers come from Eastern Europe
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By MICHAEL GERSTEIN
Capital News Service
LANSING – Few people are interested in the hard, dirty toil of farm labor. But hard work is nothing new for some in a transitory lifestyle already long-lived. Experts from the Michigan Farm Bureau say an influx of farm workers from Eastern Europe seeks those gritty jobs because they’re used to doing them. Craig Anderson, who manages the agricultural safety and labor services department at the bureau, said an increasing number of workers from that area of the world are finding jobs involving dairy or livestock. Anderson said the increase is unlikely to make up for a feared labor shortage as the agricultural industry struggles to recover from last year’s unseasonable weather and drought.