On GIS and related matters

29 April 2003
A story this morning on NPR on "geocaching" cited www.geocaching.com/ and a google search for 'geocache' produced 22,000+ hits

I went hunting for geospatial material (data and otherwise) on Mexican agricultural labor and on national forests and found (not surprisingly) many things that have some utility, and no single source that had everything... Some of the terrain I traversed:

Virginia Agricultural Statistics Service

1997 Census of Agriculture: VA Farm Numbers, Land in Farms, and Average Size of Farms

US Census Quick Facts for VA

VA Stat

Tobacco Situation and Outlook Report USDA

Online Statistical Atlas of VA

acadproj/vol8/census/statewide should have detailed census stuff for VA

Census of Agriculture:1987,1992,1997 The Census of Agriculture provides a complete picture of the agricultural sector in the U.S. Economy by county, state, or ZIP code.

Wise County GIS

Rural Migration News

ETHNIC SHIFT IN EASTERN CROP AGRICULTURE: Replacement or Displacement? by Rick Mines

google search VA and 'mexican workers'

The Changing Face of Delmarva (1997)

Enchilada Lite: A Post-9/11 Mexican Migration Agreement By Robert S. Leiken

MINUTES MIGRANT AND SEASONAL FARMWORKERS BOARD MEETING JANUARY 23 2002 (see also main site for more)

TOBACCO'S IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE ECONOMY OF SOUTHSIDE VIRGINIA

25 April
George Washington and Jefferson NFs GIS data layers (/acadproj/vol8/natfor/) --see also general page (downloaded through roads_fs)

GIS & Remote Sensing Division of the Conservation Management Institute: James River NWR vegetation mapping

VA Dept of Forestry GIS data downloads (c:/vaforest for VA forest landuse)

Federation for American Immigration Reform

TEMPORARY AGRICULTURAL LABOR (H-2A)
In 1996, the number of non-immigrant foreign agricultural workers was at its lowest level in 50 years in Virginia. Only 229 Jamaican workers were brought by 12 growers to pick apples in Frederick and Clarke counties, down from 268 in 1995. An estimated 800 US migrant workers, many born in Mexico, also worked in Virginia apple orchards. In addition, the Virginia Agricultural Growers Association imported 2,603 Mexican workers to harvest tobacco under the H-2A program.

TEMPORARY NON-AGRICULTURAL LABOR (H-2B)
Unlike farm workers, the H-2B workers do not receive written contracts that guarantee them a certain amount of work at a government-set wage. Most of Virginia's H-2B crab workers are paid piece-rate wages of $1.35 to $1.89 per pound of crab meat extracted. Most workers can extract 18 to 40 pounds of crab meat per day, for daily earnings of $25 to $67. All workers must earn at least the federal minimum wage, $4.75 per hour, which generally means that workers must clean at least 750 crabs over eight hours to obtain 25 pounds of crab meat. Workers are entitled to 1.5 times their base wages for hours in excess of 40 weekly, a requirement that employers often violate.

Most of Virginia's seafood processors provide housing for workers, at a cost of $15 to $25 per week for beds in mobile homes or ex-motels and the workers pay about $100 for bus tickets. Seafood processors sell crab meat for $6 to $13 per pound. (Source: Richmond Times Dispatch, November 10, 1996)

Migration Policy Institute

The US-Mexico Immigration Relationship: Operating in a New Context by Deborah Waller Meyers and Demetrios G. Papademetriou

An Immigration and National Security Grand Bargain with Mexico By Demetrios Papademetriou

Mexico-U.S. Migration: A Shared Responsibility U.S.-Mexico Migration Panel Recommendations released February 2001

United States-Canada-Mexico Fact Sheet On Trade, Migration, and Border Crossings

NAFTA Border Zones: Security and Integration October 17, 2001 Statement of Dr. Demetrios G. Papademetriou

Virginia Agricultural and Consumer Organizations

Mexican Migrants on the Chicken Trail Migration News 1996 ...and see current issues including remittances data by nation ... INS: 7 million unauthorized

H-1B: Specialty Occupation Workers Statistical Reports and Illegal Immigrants from INS