Manure pond deaths raise concerns about farmworker safety
July 16, 2017
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — It was still dark the morning Ruperto Vazquez-Carrera began his shift at Sunrise Organic Dairy.
It was mid-February 2016. A winter heat wave had melted snow and ice overnight, flooding part of the rural Jerome County farm. A foot of standing water made it hard to tell where the feeding area ended and the deep pond that held the farm's manure began.
Vazquez-Carrera got into a feed truck to deliver the cows their morning meal. About 5:30 a.m., he called his brother, who also worked at the farm, to warn him about the conditions.
By sunrise, Vazquez-Carrera, a 37-year-old...
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