Brian Calvert

Paonia, Western Australia

Associate Editor at Earth Island Journal

Writer-editor trying to make sense of words and the world. He/him. Associate editor @earthislandjrnl. Contributing editor @civileats. DM for details.

Articles

Amid Immigration Crackdowns, Lawmakers Reintroduce Farm Workforce Reforms

4 days ago | civileats.com | Brian Calvert

May 12, 2025 – House lawmakers have resurrected a bill to help bolster immigrant farm labor amid Trump administration crackdowns on immigrants that have swept up farmworkers and labor organizers. In a bipartisan effort, Representatives Dan Newhouse (R-Washington) and Zoe Lofgren (D-California) last week reintroduced the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, a bill that would provide pathways for non-citizens to legally work on farms while reforming the H-2A visa program.
Protests Mount Against ICE Detentions of Immigrant Farmworkers

1 week ago | civileats.com | Brian Calvert

The union has been organizing demonstrations all week, following the arrests of 14 farmworkers in western New York last Friday. They are organizing at an ICE detention center in Batavia, New York, today to “demand the release of detained farmworker leaders,” according to calls to action from the UFW.
Proposal Could Threaten Endangered Species’ Survival in Farm Country

1 week ago | civileats.com | Brian Calvert

The Trump administration is proposing a significant change to one of the country’s most important—and contentious—environmental laws, which could give farmers more leeway to use pesticides without regard to their impact on critical habitats.
EPA Releases Its Final ‘Insecticide Strategy’ to Align with Endangered Species Act

1 week ago | civileats.com | Brian Calvert

May 5, 2025 – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued the final version of its “Insecticide Strategy,” part of an ongoing initiative to bring the agency in compliance with the Endangered Species Act and avoid litigation. The EPA has already completed a strategy on herbicides. These strategies, with others to follow, are intended to protect listed species under the law, while communicating clearly with farmers and other users of these chemicals on how and where they can be applied.
Ahead of International Workers Day, USDA Touts Anti-Immigration Efforts on Farms

2 weeks ago | civileats.com | Brian Calvert

April 30, 2025 – As May Day approaches, and with the Trump administration reaching its 100-day mark, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins issued two statements in the past week touting the USDA’s efforts to curb undocumented immigration—moves that have had a significant impact on workers in food and agriculture and immigrant communities across the country.
How One Milwaukee Food Bank Is Handling the Drop in USDA Funding

3 weeks ago | civileats.com | Brian Calvert

In particular, he was tracking available food distributions from the Emergency Food Assistance Program, or TEFAP. TEFAP is a federal program that provides food assistance to people with low incomes, often by supplementing food banks. An affable, soft-spoken advocate for nutrition, King was planning on the TEFAP distributions to stockpile food supplies heading into summer.
Trump Orders Deregulation of the US Fishing Industry

4 weeks ago | civileats.com | Brian Calvert

Trump Orders Deregulation of the US Fishing IndustrySustainability advocates worry that deregulation, combined with cuts to monitoring agencies, will mean a return to the depletion of US fish stocks. April 18, 2025 – President Donald Trump yesterday announced an effort to create a “new era” of seafood policy, with an executive order that aims to “reduce the regulatory burden” on U.S. fisheries.
At a Regional USDA Office, Californians Protest Agency Cuts

1 month ago | civileats.com | Brian Calvert

Throughout her career at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Diane Delaney had a good job that allowed her a comfortable place among the middle class in the San Francisco Bay Area. Perhaps more important, the role made her feel like she was contributing to a better future. As a lab technician, she carefully prepared tree core samples that helped scientists understand past and future climates as well as wildfires, cleaning and polishing samples while enjoying the aroma of fresh pine.
Britain Shirley MacLaine 1960

Nov 29, 2024 | chronicleonline.com | Brian Calvert

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The ‘Soft Path’ of Water for Farmers in the Western US

Oct 28, 2024 | civileats.com | Brian Calvert

When Peter Gleick moved to California in the 1970s, the state had more than a million acres of cotton in production and little control over the use of its rapidly depleting groundwater. Today, California grows a tenth the amount of cotton and groundwater use has been brought under control. For Gleick, an author and cofounder of the water-focused Pacific Institute, these are signs that change can happen.