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From 2011 to 2023, at least five agriculture, forestry and fishing workers died from heat-related causes in North Carolina, according to state Occupational Safety and Health data.

Thirty-year-old José Arturo González Mendoza may belong on that list — he died on Sept. 5, harvesting sweet potatoes at Barnes Farming & Farm Pak in Nash County. The cause of death is still undetermined, but his brother Gustavo believes José Arturo died because of harsh working conditions exacerbated by extreme heat.

The H-2A visa program has a history of controversy. Advocates say H-2A workers in North Carolina are vulnerable to abuses at each step of the visa program because employers hold so much power over them, making them afraid to speak up.

Still, some farms claim to pose a more progressive model. Advocates also hope that proposed federal regulations, if adopted, would help ameliorate the systemic issues in the program — although many expressed concerns over a lack of staffing in the enforcement agencies...

This is not the first time the farm has been embroiled in controversy over its workers. One of the oldest incidents was a 1983 Congressional oversight hearing that pointed to two labor camp operators for Barnes Farming who repeatedly violated labor laws. Migrant farmworkers sued Barnes Farming in 1986 and 2013 over unpaid or too-low wages and substandard housing conditions. 

As part of the earlier statement, the Barnes Farming spokesperson wrote: “The Company takes the health and safety of each one of its team members extremely seriously and has prioritized health and safety since the Farm was started.”...