Agricultural Workforce

Farm Bureau supports proposals that provide access to a legal and stable workforce for agriculture’s needs now and in the future. First, agriculture needs significant reform to the H-2A visa program that provides flexibility for employers and workers by allowing employment options to address both seasonal and year-round needs and a reasonable and mutually agreeable wage rate.  AFBF supports short term relief in the form of a justified pause in the minimum wage rate (the Adverse Effect Wage Rate, or AEWR) used in the program until the methodology can be reformed to better reflect the benefits that successful agricultural enterprises bring to their local communities.

Farm Bureau believes that long-term workforce stability will come through a more streamlined and more flexible H-2A visa program Workers should be allowed to continue with an employer for as long as the employer has a need – up to three years. This allows farmers who have year-round labor needs to use the program and avoid disrupting their essential business operations. This program should recognize real-life workforce challenges and provides the flexibility and stability that most domestic workers enjoy.

Farm workers should be able to earn legal status, by following strict requirements. These could include showing proof of steady employment in agriculture, paying taxes, passing a criminal background check and paying a fine. The majority of farm workers in the U.S. are unauthorized, largely because Congress has ignored the shortcomings of the existing agricultural worker program. It’s time to deal with reality. But farmers must be able to keep their experienced workers – their trustworthy, right-hand men and women who have worked with them for years and can get the work of the farm done. Enforcement is an important part of the solution, but not the whole solution.

It’s time we find a solution that provides farmers and their employees the long-term stability they need.