Coast to Coast, Farm Families Stand With Their Employees

With new administrations come new leadership, new priorities and new regulatory approaches. The recent transition has highlighted policy changes throughout the federal government, including interior enforcement of existing immigration laws. In farming communities throughout the United States, there is widespread concern about potential workplace disruptions.

We’re pleased to report that from our perspectives on the West and East Coasts, thus far, large-scale disruptions have not materialized. We recognize that some workers feel uncertain right now, and we want to be very clear: American agriculture depends on and values its workforce. Farm employees are not just workers—they are partners with our nation’s farmers and ranchers. They are people with families, dreams and an incredible work ethic who keep food on tables across America.

As veteran staff of the California and New Jersey Farm Bureaus respectively, we know how high the stakes are.

With one-third of the nation’s agricultural workforce located in California, farm employees play an indispensable role in food production. These skilled workers plant, cultivate and harvest the crops that make California the leading producer of fruits, vegetables and nuts in the United States. Without these employees, crops would go unharvested, rural businesses would suffer and food prices could rise for families across the country. This is not just a farm issue—it’s a food security issue, an economic issue and a community issue.

In New Jersey, the agriculture industry is much smaller in scale, but no less significant in its contributions to local communities and the state’s economy. With over 100 fruits and vegetables, along with other specialty crops, nurseries, vineyards, fisheries and livestock farms, a highly diverse agricultural economy in the Garden State boasted cash receipts of nearly $1.5 billion in 2022. How does that come to be? - in large part, through the toil and diligence of a stable and healthy agricultural workforce.

These examples are among many that demonstrate the interdependence of agriculture and rural economies. Thousands of employees in farming and ranching-adjacent industries—including food processing, transportation and equipment suppliers—depend on the steady flow of agricultural production to sustain their livelihoods.

Although today’s agricultural workforce challenges are not new, they reinforce the sustained urgency to deliver durable reforms that provide the certainty owed to farmers and their employees.

Farmers and ranchers have struggled with chronic labor shortages for years, and uncertainty surrounding immigration policy only exacerbates the problem. Farmers, ranchers and Farm Bureau are ready to work with the administration and Congress to advance real, bipartisan workforce reforms this year. This isn’t just about filling jobs—it’s about ensuring security and stability for the agricultural workforce and the farmers who depend on them.

To provide a long-term solution, three key priorities for workforce reform must be implemented:

• Modernizing the H-2A agricultural visa program to make it more flexible and responsive to the labor needs of farmers and ranchers;
  
  
• Providing earned legal status for current agricultural workers, recognizing their longstanding contributions to U.S. food production and society; and
  
  
• Crafting policies that reflect the reality of agriculture and recognize that workforce stability is essential to feeding the nation.

Policymakers in Washington and within our states must have the courage to meet rural America where it is and recognize it for the contributions it makes. That means prioritizing policies that stabilize, rather than disrupt, what remains of a diminishing pool of dedicated employees.

American agriculture—from California to Iowa to New Jersey and everywhere in between — needs policies that offer real solutions, rather than uncertainty. To ensure a strong agricultural economy and a secure food supply, we need solutions that reflect the reality of farming—not indiscriminate policies that put the entire agricultural system at risk.

Bryan Little is senior director of policy advocacy at California Farm Bureau. Peter Furey is executive director of New Jersey Farm Bureau.