WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — Agriculture employers won’t have to cast a wide net in recruiting temporary workers under a rules change proposed by the U.S. Labor Department.

The agency quietly proposed last week that employers no longer be required to place ads for available agricultural jobs with print and broadcast media outside of where they plan to use the workers. Advocates for farm workers say the change violates a 1986 federal law that requires employers to look for United States workers in designated multistate regions before they resort to hiring foreign workers.

Such a move could hurt farm workers who are U.S. citizens or legal residents, said Bruce Goldstein, executive director of Farmworker Justice Fund, Inc.

“The Department of Labor is now saying the employers need not recruit beyond the local area. It will deprive U.S. farm workers of jobs that they want and that they need,” Goldstein said.

Although some 70 percent of the estimated 2.5 million farm workers in the U.S. are believed to be undocumented, Goldstein said that leaves about 750,000 who are citizens or legal residents. Many of those workers migrate to their jobs.

A Labor Department spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The proposed change was contained in a memo sent to state workforce agencies about the H2A visa program on Nov. 6. The Labor and Homeland Security departments proposed other changes to the program and are awaiting approval from the White House before releasing them for public review.

Congress failed to pass immigration reform this year, ending plans to provide workers – some already in the country illegally and some who would come from abroad – through guest worker and legalization programs. Agriculture employers now fear they may not be able to find enough workers as the federal government steps up immigration enforcement.

The National Council of Agricultural Employers had asked the White House to end the requirement for out-of-state advertising in print and broadcast. The group said the advertisements are expensive and unproductive.

At times, the outlets where employers are told by the Labor Department to advertise already are running several dozen virtually identical ads, Sharon Hughes, the council’s executive vice president, said in an August letter to President Bush.

Also, the states where employers are required to advertise, considered traditional labor states, are states where in-state agriculture employers are also looking for H2A workers. Hughes was traveling and could not be immediately reached for comment.

Britain orders thousands of turkeys slaughtered for bird flu REDGRAVE, England (AP) — British supermarkets reassured customers that the latest bird flu outbreak would not lead to a Christmas turkey shortage, as the government ordered the slaughter of thousands more birds.

Poultry on four new sites were ordered destroyed as a precaution to prevent the spread of the virulent H5N1 strain, after it was discovered Nov. 11 on a farm with about 5,000 turkeys, 1,000 ducks and 500 geese.

A total of 24,000 turkeys were being slaughtered on the five sites, all connected to the Gressingham Foods Co., according to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The agency said it was investigating whether H5N1 had spread between the sites.

Despite the fresh slaughter, all of the country’s major supermarkets said the area under scrutiny accounted for just a small proportion of turkey supplies.

Bird flu’s return to Britain was yet another blow to Britain’s farmers, already struggling after livestock herds were hit earlier this year by foot-and-mouth and bluetongue. The strain was closely related to those found in the Czech Republic and Germany earlier this year, Chief Veterinary Officer Fred Landeg said.

Millions of birds worldwide have died or were slaughtered since late 2003, when H5N1 began ravaging Asian poultry stocks. It has killed at least 206 people worldwide since 2003.

Experts believe most victims were probably infected through direct contact with sick birds. Bird flu is difficult for humans to catch, but experts fear it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a flu pandemic.

Missouri farmer beats world soybean record again

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A southwestern Missouri farmer has broken the world record for soybean yield that he set last year. The Missouri Soybean Assoc. said Kip Cullers of Purdy grew nearly 155 bushels of soybeans per acre this season. That number beat Cullers’ world record of more than 139 bushels set last year.

His record-setting crop was grown on an irrigated and conventionally tilled field near Stark City. Cullers attributes his success to an intensive plant-management program, which includes paying close attention to detail and checking his fields at least once per day.

The record-setting yield was harvested Oct. 6 and verified by association officials.

Cullers co-owns and operates K&K Farms southeast of Joplin.

Farmer sentenced to prison over false loan application DENVER, Colo. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a farmer from Sterling has been sentenced to a year and eight months in prison over a loan scheme.

Ronny Wisdom pled guilty in May to submitting a false loan application and was sentenced last month.

Prosecutors say the 57-year-old Wisdom didn’t disclose an existing $1.5 million loan when he was approved for another $6 million loan. They say he used some of the new loan to pay off the old one but disguised the payments as the cost of cattle and feed.

Prosecutors say several lenders ultimately lost about $10 million when Wisdom and his cattle company could not repay loans.