This spring, the N.C. Department of Labor eliminated the most substantial safety violation it initially levied against Barnes Farming Corp. in connection to the 2023 death of farmworker José Arturo Gonzalez Mendoza.

As part of a settlement approved May 6, the state slashed fines for Barnes Farming from $187,500 to $3,750 — a 98% reduction — and deleted the “willful” citation it had issued the prominent agricultural employer for failing to remove recognized hazards from its Nash County farm…

…Under the settlement, it agreed to send field supervisors to occupational safety training, review its heat-stress prevention policies, and drop public records-related litigation against the state.

“We are confident that this agreement promotes worker safety,” NCDOL spokesperson Andy Lancaster wrote in an email Monday.

Gonzalez Mendoza was a 30-year-old Mexican migrant worker on a temporary H-2A agricultural visa when, on Sept. 5, 2023, he died of an apparent heat-related illness while harvesting sweet potatoes at the Barnes commercial farm in the town of Spring Hope…

In a statement to The N&O, the Barnes family called Johnny “a man of unwavering conviction” and alleged the original state investigation was “amplified by voices with political motives.”…