Farmers Come to Capitol Hill to Call for Ag Labor Reform

For decades now, farmers and ranchers have been advocating for a solution to our nation’s broken agricultural labor system. Yet, instead of progress, we’ve only seen this situation get worse as the number of skilled workers continues to dwindle and programs like H-2A fail to keep up with the changing needs of agriculture.

From across the country, our farmers and ranchers have raised their voices that the shortage of labor is the greatest limiting factor on their farms and some have given up farming because of labor costs, like April Clayton, who testified before Washington state lawmakers about the heart wrenching decision to rent out their land instead of farming it.

That is why at Farm Bureau, ag labor remains at the top of our priority list. We’re committed to advocating for meaningful reform to immigration and guest worker programs while focusing on making sure we get it right for all our farm and ranch families.

Fortunately, we have seen some movement as the House Committee on Agriculture’s Agriculture Labor Working Group recently released their final report, making it clear, once again, that there is bipartisan agreement on the need to improve the H-2A program to better serve American agriculture. Now it’s time to turn up the volume on our advocacy efforts to ensure that Congress doesn’t just agree on the problem but also provides a solution.

We also welcomed Karin Reeves from New York here to share the story of how many mid-size vegetable and fruit operations are facing the challenge of going under due to the H-2A wage calculation and their inability to compete with imports from Canada and Mexico.

April Clayton also joined us to share with lawmakers in Washington, DC, the same harsh reality she shared with lawmakers in her home state.

This is just a snapshot of what is happening on farms across the country, as farmers struggle to sustain their businesses with rising costs and limited resources.

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Photo Credit: gettyimages-dmytro-diedov