Highlights:
- JD Vance was a member of AppHarvest’s board, publicly praised the company, and had $116,003 to $315,000 invested in the company prior to its bankruptcy.
- AppHarvest was an agricultural startup that built greenhouses in Appalachia.
- Vance touted AppHarvest as a company that would invest in empowering Appalachia.
- On July 24, 2023, AppHarvest filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
- AppHarvest broke its promise to provide high-quality employment for blue-collar, Appalachian workers.
- AppHarvest promised to use local workers and provide them quality employment.
- AppHarvest provided poor workplace conditions for its workers.
- AppHarvest fired Appalachian workers and replaced their positions with migrant, contract workers.
- AppHarvest fired local employees in mass lay-offs.
- AppHarvest attempted to hide the fact that they were using migrant workers.
¶ Vance Was A Member Of AppHarvest’s Board, Publicly Praised The Company, And Had $116,003 To $315,000 Invested In The Company Prior To Its Bankruptcy
¶ AppHarvest Was An Agricultural Startup That Built Greenhouses In Appalachia
AppHarvest Was A Morehead, Kentucky-Based Indoor Farming Company. According to the Associated Press, “AppHarvest — an indoor farming company backed by Martha Stewart — thinks the agriculture sector is ripe for disruption. And now, its tomatoes are ripe for eating. The Morehead, Kentucky-based company said Tuesday it has begun shipping beefsteak tomatoes to Kroger, Walmart, Publix and other grocers. Eventually, AppHarvest plans to ship 45 million pounds of tomatoes each year from its 60-acre indoor farm in Morehead. AppHarvest is one of many players in the fast-growing field of indoor farming.” [Associated Press, 1/19/21]
AppHarvest Went Public Via A Special Purpose Acquisition Company Merger With Novus Capital Group At A Valuation Of Around $1 Billion. According to The Street, “AppHarvest, a green tech agriculture startup backed by former hedge fund investor Jeff Ubben, said Tuesday that it plans to list on the Nasdaq through a special purpose acquisition company. AppHarvest, which plans to build the world's biggest greenhouse later this year in Morehead, Kentucky, will complete its listing transaction via Novus Capital Corp., a so-called special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that is already listed on the tech-focused exchange. Gross proceeds from the deal are expected to hit $475 million, AppHarvest said, taking the implied market value of the tie-up between it and Novus to around $1 billion.” [The Street, 9/29/20]
VANCE WAS AN EARLY INVESTOR IN APPHARVEST
Vance Was An Early Investor In AppHarvest. According to Forbes, “AppHarvest hadn’t grown a single piece of produce when it announced it would be going public through a SPAC reverse merger that values the startup greenhouse at more than $1 billion and has it on track to raise $460 million when it starts trading next week. Those are pretty tatty numbers for a 60-acre indoor farm that started shipping its first harvest just last week, with batches of organic tomatoes on the vine headed to early investors that include Martha Stewart and bestselling author J.D. Vance, as well as the brand’s first retailers, including Walmart, Kroger, Meijer and Publix.” [Forbes, 1/29/21]
Vance And Narya Capital Firm – A Venture Capital Firm Vance Founded - Led AppHarvest’s $28 Million Series C Funding Round. According to Agri Investor, “Narya Capital, a venture capital firm founded by author JD Vance, has led a $28 million Series C for AppHarvest, a controlled environment agriculture-focused start-up beginning to consider international expansion. Narya was joined in the Series C by other investors that included S2G Ventures, tech-focused venture firm Breyer Capital and Lupa Systems, a private holding company established last year by former Fox News executive James Murdoch.” [Agri Investor, 8/20/20]
Vance Also Invested In AppHarvest At Previous Venture Capital Fund, Rise Of The Rest. According to the Lexington Herald Leader, “It's been about two years since AppHarvest, the company aiming to make Eastern Kentucky the ‘high-tech agriculture capital of the country,’ planned to begin construction of a two-million square foot greenhouse in Pikeville. After numerous delays and the company's decision to move its greenhouse to Morehead in January, AppHarvest announced this week that it has secured enough funding to begin construction. An $82 million cash investment from Equilibrium Capital has put the company on a path to finally getting its greenhouse off the ground. Construction should begin this summer, officials said, and AppHarvest hopes to be fully operational in the latter-half of 2020…Along with Equilibrium, the company also received a second investment from the Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, which is led by AOL co-founder Steve Case and ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ author J.D. Vance.” [Lexington Herald Leader, 5/24/19]
¶ Vance Was A Member Of AppHarvest’s Board From 2020-2021
August 2020 – April 2021: Vance Was A Member Of AppHarvest’s Board. According to the Associated Press, “Vance resigned from the AppHarvest board two months after it went public, on April 9, 2021, to make his Senate run. He had served since August 2020. The company told regulators his departure was ‘not the result of any disagreement between the Company and Mr. Vance on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies, or practices.’” [Associated Press, 10/21/22]
Vance Stated In His Senate Disclosure That He Joined The AppHarvest Board In 2017. According to CNN, “Vance was named to the board of directors in March 2017, according to his Senate disclosures, though company security filings stated that he joined in 2020.” [CNN, 8/13/24]
¶ 2021: Vance Resigned From The AppHarvest Board Of Directors Soon After He Posted Controversial Tweets That Sparked Public Backlash
2021: Following Tweets That Some Claimed Were A Defense Of Tucker Carlson And White Supremacy, Vance Resigned From The AppHarvest Board, A Move Vance Said Came Well Before His Tweets. According to Associated Press, “Vance has been active on Twitter, criticizing ‘the ruling class,’ immigration policy and Big Tech censorship. He stirred up Twitter last week with a defense of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, accused of using white supremacist rhetoric about immigrants. ‘Tucker Carlson is the only powerful figure who consistently challenges elite dogma — on both cultural and economic questions. That is why they try to destroy him,’ Vance wrote. This week he resigned from the board of a Kentucky company, AppHarvest, that uses green technology to produce food in Appalachia, but on Friday he denied it was because of fallout from the controversial tweets. He said his decision predated them.” [Associated Press, 4/16/21]
Vance: “The Basic Thinking Was: I’m Going To Keep Speaking My Mind, And I’d Rather Do That Unconstrained By The Demands Of A Public Board. And I Thought The Company Would Be Better Off Too.” According to Associated Press, “‘The basic thinking was: I’m going to keep speaking my mind, and I’d rather do that unconstrained by the demands of a public board. And I thought the company would be better off too,’ Vance said via Twitter.” [Associated Press, 4/16/21]
¶ Vance Touted AppHarvest As A Company That Would Invest In Empowering Appalachia
Vance Touted AppHarvest As An Organization That Would Empower Appalachians. According to the Associated Press, “‘The last few months have taught us that our food system is a little more precarious than we realized,’ Vance said in an August 2020 article in Greenhouse Grower. ‘AppHarvest will change that, and it will do so by building a sustainable, durable business in Appalachia, and investing in the people who call it home.’” [Associated Press, 10/21/22]
Vance Said That AppHarvest Was A Company That Could Pay Workers More And Be A Company That “Investors And Consumers Would Be Proud Of.” According to the Associated Press, “Vance’s level of involvement in the company while he was a director is unclear. He was among a roster of celebrities, including media mogul Martha Stewart, who got behind AppHarvest early on, and he spoke positively about the company on Fox Business News on Feb. 1, 2021, plugging its stock the day it went public in a business combination with Novus Capital, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. ‘What we saw as an opportunity here is if you could use technology, bring the point of production a little bit closer to the end consumer, you could actually pay people a decent wage, you could build a company that investors and consumers would be proud of, but you just have better produce,’ he said.” [Associated Press, 10/21/22]
Vance Described AppHarvest As “A Good Investment Opportunity” That Was “Making A Big Difference In The World.” According to CNN, “That’s why, he said, he invested in AppHarvest, a startup that promised a high-tech future for farming and for the workers of Eastern Kentucky. Over a four-year span, Vance was an early investor, board member and public pitchman for the indoor-agriculture company. ‘It’s not just a good investment opportunity, it’s a great business that’s making a big difference in the world,’ Vance proclaimed in a Fox Business interview on the day the company went public in February 2021.” [CNN, 8/13/24]
¶ 2023: Vance Held Between $116,003 and $315,000 In AppHarvest Stock
2023: Vance Held Between $100,001 and $250,000 In AppHarvest Stock.
[United States Senate Financial Disclosures, Filed 10/30/23]
2023: Vance Held Between $1,001 and $15,000 In AppHarvest Stock.
[United States Senate Financial Disclosures, Filed 10/30/23]
2023: Vance Held Between $15,001 and $50,000 In AppHarvest Stock.
[United States Senate Financial Disclosures, Filed 10/30/23]
¶ July 24, 2023: AppHarvest Filed For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
July 24, 2023: AppHarvest Filed For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. According to the Associated Press, “AppHarvest, a Kentucky-based indoor farming company that was backed by Martha Stewart when it began shipping tomatoes in early 2021, has filed for bankruptcy, officials announced on Monday. The Chapter 11 filing on Sunday came following several months of financial difficulties, including the potential foreclosure of its greenhouse in Richmond and concerns about cash flow, news outlets reported. In addition, AppHarvest Founder Jonathan Webb was replaced earlier this month as chief executive officer and chairman of the board. The company said in a statement that it is looking to restructure while business operations continue at its four farms.” [Associated Press, 7/24/23]
At The Time, AppHarvest Was More Than $341 Million In Debt. According to CNN, “AppHarvest filed for bankruptcy last year, weighed down by more than $341 million in debt. In a court filing, Broadbent stated the company had experienced a ‘significant liquidity crisis’ due to lower-than-expected crop yields, ‘higher-than-expected costs, and tightening of the equity markets and declining stock prices.’ A Canada-based company bought or acquired leases for some of AppHarvest’s greenhouses.” [CNN, 8/13/24]
¶ Shareholders Filed Lawsuits Against AppHarvest, Alleging Fraud
Shareholders Filed Lawsuits Against AppHarvest, Alleging Fraud After The Stock Price Plummeted. According to the Lexington Herald Leader, “Groups of shareholders — including a public pension fund in Plymouth, Mass. — have filed five federal lawsuits against AppHarvest in the last 15 months. They’re unhappy about the collapse of its stock price, and they allege fraud. Share prices nosedived from more than $30 in February 2021, when the company went public on the NASDAQ exchange, to about $1.20 this week. If the company’s stock trades below $1 for more than 30 consecutive days, it can be dropped from the NASDAQ. In the suits, shareholders say that AppHarvest executives misled investors and regulators with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to make it appear they were better prepared for the company’s launch than they really were. Meanwhile, top executives were being awarded millions of dollars in compensation, the suits allege.” [Lexington Herald Leader, 11/22/22]
March 2024: The Lawsuit Was Settled For $4.85 Million. According to Newsweek, “An investor lawsuit in New York federal court claimed that the company employees were so badly trained and overworked that much of the produce was very poor quality or a complete waste. The company settled the claim for $4.85 million in March, 2024 and the settlement was approved by a federal judge.” [Newsweek, 8/14/24]
¶ AppHarvest Broke Its Promise To Provide High-Quality Employment For Blue-Collar, Appalachian Workers
¶ AppHarvest Promised To Use Local Workers And Provide Them Quality Employment
AppHarvest’s Business Was Built Upon Promises To Hire Local Workers In Appalachia And Provide Them With Quality Employment. According to Grist, “This change in strategy was a complete departure from AppHarvest’s original pledge to hire Appalachian workers and build up the region with reliable, blue-collar careers. ‘Traditionally, many agricultural workers in the U.S. have been H-2A, temporary agricultural workers, who at best are offered housing and other perks if they’re seasonal,’ the company had noted in a 2020 report. Instead, AppHarvest wrote, as a certified B Corp, the company valued collective benefit over individual gain, along with empowering Appalachians and improving the lives of employees and the community. In a 2021 interview, Webb said, ‘Prioritizing the employee, that’s just simple human decency.’” [Grist, 11/16/23]
Securities And Exchange Commission Filings Described Empowering Appalachians As A Driving Force Behind The Company. According to the Associated Press, “It has described its mission in SEC filings as empowering Appalachians, driving positive environmental change in the agriculture industry and improving the lives of its employees and the community.” [Associated Press, 10/21/22]
AppHarvest Pledged To Hire Thousands Of Local Appalachians In “High Unemployment Areas.” According to CNN, “The company had pledged thousands of jobs for ‘high unemployment areas,’ according to a 2020 investor presentation. Much of Eastern Kentucky at the time had been designated as economically distressed.” [CNN, 8/13/24]
¶ AppHarvest Provided Poor Workplace Conditions For Workers
¶ AppHarvest Cut Benefits Including Health Care And Break Times
AppHarvest Cut Health Care Benefits And Breaks For Workers. According to CNN, “Things started out well, Morgan said. The hours were manageable, and the benefits were better than anything he could hope to get from other employers in the area. Then, a few months in, Morgan recounted a noticeable shift in the company’s culture. Production fell behind and workers got the message that they needed to pick up the pace, Morgan said. The company cut costs, including the employer-paid health care benefits, and managers were tasked with meeting far higher production quotas. That meant longer hours for workers and fewer breaks in the brutal heat of the greenhouse.” [CNN, 8/13/24]
¶ AppHarvest Required Employees To Work Under Dangerous Heat Conditions
AppHarvest Employees Described Working Conditions As “An Absolute Grueling Hell On Earth,” With The Heat Index Reaching 155 Degrees Fahrenheit. According to Grist, “Though the position was a financial improvement on the $7 an hour Moore once made working on a tobacco farm, the heat inside the greenhouse turned out to be far worse than an outdoor farm. One worker called it ‘an absolute grueling hell on earth.’ Workers were only allowed to leave the greenhouse if the heat index reached 140 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a worker who helped those suffering from heat exhaustion. Another worker said thermometers were covered in gray trash bags or moved to poles where workers couldn’t see a heat index that the medical assistant said once peaked at 155 degrees Fahrenheit.” [Grist, 11/16/23]
Occupational Safety Filings Alleged That AppHarvest Required Workers To Work While The Heat Index Was Between 115 And 136 Degrees. According to Grist, “Starting as early as August 2020, during construction of the Morehead greenhouse, workers filed eight complaints to the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet for Occupational Safety and Health. Almost half of those complaints, revealed for the first time in an open records request received by Grist, concerned the heat in the Morehead greenhouse and a second AppHarvest greenhouse in Berea, a town about 80 miles southwest. In July 2021, one complaint said workers were laboring in a heat index ranging from 115 to 136 degrees Fahrenheit. ‘For the past few days no one has taken any temperatures,’ the labor filing reads, adding that the company doesn’t allow workers to go home early, even though they work in direct sunlight and several suffered heat exhaustion.” [Grist, 11/16/23]
¶ AppHarvest Restricted Employee Access To Safe Drinking Water Despite The Dangerous Heat
AppHarvest Restricted Access To Safe Drinking Water For Employees. According to Grist, “At the Berea farm, a July 2022 complaint said that even on high-humidity, nearly 100-degree days, potable water was only available to production workers if they walked eight minutes to an administrative trailer they could only access during breaks. And because non-potable water wasn’t labeled as such, desperate employees had drawn unsafe drinking water into their bottles when safe drinking water was unavailable.” [Grist, 11/16/23]
¶ Employees Suffered Serious Mental And Physical Harm From Dangerous Heat Conditions
Grist: The Dangerous Heat Conditions Led Workers To Suffer “Panic Attacks, Ideation Of Personal Harm, And Relapses Into Addiction.” According to Grist, “Inside the Morehead greenhouse, the heat index could spike to 155 degrees Fahrenheit, according to worker interviews, leading to dehydration, heat exhaustion, and medical emergencies. The stress of the work environment led to panic attacks, ideation of personal harm, and relapses into addiction.” [Grist, 11/16/23]
Employees Would Pass Out And Leave By Ambulance Because Of Unsafe Heat Levels. According to Grist, “One afternoon during the first summer of AppHarvest’s operation, then-55-year-old Janet Moore threw up at least three times from heat exhaustion in the bathroom outside the greenhouse. Other workers recalled seeing coworkers pass out from heat and leave on steel trolleys — or, sometimes, in ambulances.” [Grist, 11/16/23]
Employees Were “Routinely” Treated By Medical Personnel For Heat Stroke Symptoms. According to CNN, “It was the heat, though, that took a toll. Hester echoed Morgan’s account that workers were routinely taken out of the greenhouse by medical personnel because they were suffering from heat stroke symptoms. Those who went to the doctor, she said, were told by managers that a doctor’s note was not a sufficient reason to miss a shift.” [CNN, 8/13/24]
¶ AppHarvest Refused To Give Time Off For Workplace Injuries
Workers Were Told That A Doctor’s Note Was Not Sufficient To Take Time Off After Workplace Injuries. According to CNN, “It was the heat, though, that took a toll. Hester echoed Morgan’s account that workers were routinely taken out of the greenhouse by medical personnel because they were suffering from heat stroke symptoms. Those who went to the doctor, she said, were told by managers that a doctor’s note was not a sufficient reason to miss a shift.” [CNN, 8/13/24]
An Employee Said That He Was Fired For Taking Medical Leave For A Workplace Injury. According to CNN, “Morgan helped organize an employee sit-in to demand fairer working conditions, and said that he was fired after he took time off for medical care for an injury he said he suffered on the job. ‘It was a nightmare that should have never happened,’ Morgan said of his experience overall.” [CNN, 8/13/24]
¶ AppHarvest Failed To Provide Appropriate Protective Equipment For Their Employees
AppHarvest Failed To Provide Safety Equipment To Prevent Workers From Being Exposed To Contaminants. According to Grist, “Other safety concerns detailed in the complaints included the sudden onset of nausea, and on two occasions vomiting, when the plants were sprayed with ‘something unsafe.’ Two more complaints said tearing out mold, dust, and insulation from walls caused eye and lung irritation. Employees reported that they didn’t receive respirators, and during the tear-out one team member went to the hospital for breathing issues, according to the complaints.” [Grist, 11/16/23]
Safety Complaints Described Faulty Guard Wires And Lack Of Precautions When They Broke. According to the Grist, “Another said guide wires holding tomatoes were snapping from the weight of the fruit. ‘If someone is working the rows and the wire snaps, over 500 tomato plants will fall on whomever is in the [row],’ the complainant told the state safety office. In a separate filing, an employee said guide wires broke over three days in February 2023, and that as wires fell there was the possibility of ‘taking someone’s head off and/or extremely hurting their bodies.’” [Grist, 11/16/23]
One Employee Described Having To Bring Her Own N95 Masks Due To Mold. According to CNN, “Hester’s main responsibility was harvesting the tomatoes right off the vine. She excelled, despite the excessive heat and demanding quotas. Workers, she said, were not provided adequate protection. ‘I had to bring in my own N95 masks, because I was getting sick from the amount of mold and just nasty stuff that was in there,’ Hester told CNN.” [CNN, 8/13/24]
¶ Employees Were Not Given Proper Training Leading To Low Crop Yields
Employees Described The Lack Of Direction And Company Training On Utilizing Farm Equipment. According to CNN, “The company also struggled with what multiple workers described as mismanagement. ‘There was really no direction,’ said Andrew Miller, another former crop care specialist at AppHarvest, who described the company training as ‘just figure it out as you go.’ Another worker described the training as more ideologically driven than focused on the practical day-to-day tasks of doing the job. ‘We watched a movie narrated by David Attenborough, the famous, older environmentalist,’ said one former worker named Bethany, who asked that CNN use only her first name. ‘But we didn’t talk about how to use the scissor lifts or what was happening our first day.’” [CNN, 8/13/24]
¶ AppHarvest Threatened To Fire Employees After Lying About Job Hours And Benefits
AppHarvest Lied About 40-Hour Work Weeks And Required Employees To Work Overtime Or Be Fired. According to Grist “A year earlier, Nora had seen a billboard for AppHarvest on a state highway. She was hired after hearing a version of the company’s pitch that promised a strict 40-hour week and the opportunity to advance — something she had rarely found in the service jobs she’d worked since graduating high school. The promise was quickly broken: She was almost immediately told she needed to start working weekend overtime or her job would be in jeopardy.” [Grist, 11/16/23]
AppHarvest Was Advertised As A Safe Space For Recovering Addicts, But Threatened To Fire A Worker For Seeking Addiction Treatment. According to Grist, “A couple months into the job, Mays relapsed on Suboxone, a medication for opioid use disorder, which if misused can lead to dependency, addiction, or overdose. She remembered that her hiring packet said she could go to treatment and still keep her job. When she asked human resources, however, they said that if she left for rehab, they couldn’t guarantee her job would be waiting for her. And even if a job was available, she remembers being told, she wouldn’t be eligible for six months. Mays didn’t want to lose her position, so she used over-the-counter pain relievers to work straight through a month of low-grade withdrawals while continuing her highly physical, monotonous tasks in the scorching greenhouse.” [Grist, 11/16/23]
¶ As Workplace Conditions Deteriorated, Employees Began Leaving En Masse
Employees Began Leaving The Company En Masse As Working Conditions Deteriorated. According to CNN, “The conditions became intolerable, and employees began to leave the company in droves, several workers told CNN.” [CNN, 8/13/24]
A Former Employee Estimated That Two To Three Employees Quit Every Week. According to Newsweek, “According to a confidential witness (‘CW1’), a former Crop Care Specialist at the Morehead Facility who was employed from October 2020 through July 2021, AppHarvest workers damaged a ‘shocking amount’ of tomatoes in the Morehead Facility, because of worker disillusionment and undertraining, the lawsuit states. ‘CW1 stated that to mitigate lost productivity, AppHarvest increased the Company's hourly requirements, which in turn caused massive worker dissatisfaction and a 'shocking' amount of turnover,’ the lawsuit adds. ‘CW1 observed that personnel 'began jumping ship' as soon as AppHarvest changed its hours policy and that, prior to the first harvest, at least one person a week from CW1's team left the Company.’ ‘CW1 estimated that two to three employees left the Company every week throughout CW1's tenure.’” [Newsweek, 8/14/24]
¶ AppHarvest Fired Appalachian Workers And Replaced Their Positions With Migrant, Contract Workers
¶ AppHarvest Fired Local Employees In Mass LayOffs
AppHarvest Replaced Local Employees With Contract Laborer To Cut Costs. According to Grist, “Over the course of 2021 and 2022, while AppHarvest let go of costly employees who drained the company pocketbook with high salaries and wages, health insurance premiums, and requests for promotions, the company hired contract laborers who wouldn’t get any of this. In a November 2021 public filing, AppHarvest noted the tightening nationwide labor market, the cost of training a new workforce, and issues of retention: ‘In order to forestall any potential labor shortfall, we have hired contract laborers from outside of the region to help complete our next harvest.’” [Grist, 11/16/23]
AppHarvest Fired Half Of Its Office Staff In One Day. According to Grist, “In February 2022, half the office staff and all but one employee in the marketing department were let go in a single day, according to another former corporate employee.” [Grist, 11/16/23]
¶ Former AppHarvest Employees Struggled To Find Gainful Employment After Being Laid-Off
AppHarvest’s Lay Offs Left Former Employees Unable To Find Gainful Employment. According to Grist, “For Nora, it took nine months after she quit to stop crying herself to sleep. Now, she works as a building services technician in Morehead. Other ex-AppHarvest employees are scattered around the town: Some ended up at Buffalo Wild Wings or assembly lines in nearby plastics, cabinet, and barrel stave factories. Mays became assistant manager at the Family Dollar store. Moore went to the Family Dollar Distribution Center down the street from the greenhouse, where a night shift can earn $19.75 an hour. Baxter, who’s been staying at a campground in her RV, which she calls the Dream Capture, is looking for work.” [Grist, 11/16/23]
¶ AppHarvest Turned To Hiring Migrant Contract Workers To Replace Local Appalachian Workers
¶ 2023: AppHarvest Hired More Than 450 Migrant Contract Workers
2023: AppHarvest Hired More Contract Workers Than Local Laborers, Retaining More Than 450 Contract Workers As Of 2023. According to Grist, “Last year, Nora typically had 20 or more contract laborers on her team, and about 12 local people. All the greenhouse workers I spoke to who left in 2022 or 2023 said that, by the time they left, contract workers outnumbered local employees. As of this summer, AppHarvest retained more than 450 of these contract workers, paying them approximately $2.5 million each month.” [Grist, 11/16/23]
- Contract Workers Were Mostly From Mexico And Guatemala. According to CNN, “As workers left, AppHarvest replaced them with migrant workers, numerous former employees told CNN. By the early fall of 2021, Hester described a workforce that was made up of many workers from countries such as Mexico and Guatemala.” [CNN, 8/13/24]
AppHarvest Owed More Than $1.4 Million To Three Agricultural Work-Placement Agencies That Supply Companies With Foreign Workers. According to Grist, “Bankruptcy filings show that the company owes over $1.4 million to at least three agricultural work-placement agencies that help farms fill temporary agricultural jobs with foreign nationals.” [Grist, 11/16/23]
¶ AppHarvest Hired 140 Migrant Workers For Just One Location
AppHarvest Hired 140 Migrant Workers For Just One Location. According to Grist, “An open records request from the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet reveals that just over the last year, AppHarvest brought in at least 140 migrant workers at $13.89 an hour at its Madison and Pulaski County farms.” [Grist, 11/16/23]
¶ According To Former Employees, Contract Workers Outnumbered Local Employees By 2022 And 2023
According To Former Employees, Contract Workers Outnumbered Local Employees By 2022 And 2023. According to the Grist, “Last year, Nora typically had 20 or more contract laborers on her team, and about 12 local people. All the greenhouse workers I spoke to who left in 2022 or 2023 said that, by the time they left, contract workers outnumbered local employees. As of this summer, AppHarvest retained more than 450 of these contract workers, paying them approximately $2.5 million each month. This change in strategy was a complete departure from AppHarvest’s original pledge to hire Appalachian workers and build up the region with reliable, blue-collar careers.” [Grist, 11/16/23]
¶ Migrant Workers Were Housed By AppHarvest In Mobile Homes And Apartment Complexes That Far Exceeded Occupancy
Migrant Workers Were Housed In Mobile Homes And Apartment Complexes That Far Exceeded Occupancy Levels With Four Or Five People Sleeping In A Room. According to the Grist, “Workers were housed in mobile homes and apartment complexes where the number of laborers appeared to far exceed occupancy levels. In Pulaski County, three mobile homes with an occupancy total of 17 were listed as the housing options for 30 workers. In Richmond, a 15-unit apartment complex with a 61-person limit was listed as the housing option for 90 workers. In Morehead, workers have been housed at the Red Roof Inn, Days Inn, and Comfort Inn, where there are no cooking stations and workers sometimes squeeze five into a two-bed room, according to Anne Colbert, a retired physician who runs a volunteer migrant support group in Morehead.” [Grist, 11/16/23]
¶ AppHarvest Attempted To Hide The Fact That They Were Using Migrant Workers
AppHarvest Attempted To Hide The Fact That They Were Utilizing Migrant Labor. According to Grist, “A former member of the marketing team recalled that photographers were told not to take pictures of the contract workers, most of whom were Hispanic, because the company wanted to show it was employing Appalachians, who are largely white. When the former marketing team member visited the greenhouse, they saw few workers in the thick rows of green tomato vines until a Mexican song came over the shared speaker system and they heard laborers sing along.” [Grist, 11/16/23]
AppHarvest Kept Migrant Workers Separate From Other Employees And Sent Them Home When Giving Tours To Politicians. According to CNN, “‘They brought Mitch McConnell into the greenhouse, and they sent every single Hispanic worker home before he got there,’ Hester said. ‘He then proceeded to have a speech about how we were taking the jobs from the Mexicans.’ At least five workers confirmed Hester’s account of McConnell’s visit to CNN. Supporting other worker accounts, Hester’s husband, Mitch Smith, who also worked at AppHarvest, told CNN that the migrants were kept in separate bays from other workers and were sent away when bigwigs came through the warehouse.” [CNN, 8/13/24]