Farmers who produce fruits and vegetables, as well as farmers engaged in other crop production and other labor-intensive agricultural work, have long complained about the challenge of finding a legal workforce to pick their crops and work their fields. Some rely on the federal temporary farm guest worker program (H-2A) to find workers, others simply hire who they can--legal workers or otherwise.One might think the ongoing recession would test consistent farmer complaints about the inability to hire American workers to work their fields because the work is hard and physically demanding. Yet, even with unemployment hovering around 10 percent, Lisa Rathke reports for the Associated Press that farmers, dairymen, and others are relying on foreign workers because Americans won't take the jobs. Since they are relying on foreign labor, farmers are concerned that crackdowns on illegal immigration, as well as difficulties with the H-2A program, have made finding any workforce difficult.
So, with immigration reform talk heating up, farmers want to make sure their concerns are known too. During a House Agriculture Committee field hearing in Fresno, California, California fruit and vegetable growers let the committee know they need help. While acknowledging farm labor is not typically part of the federal farm bill, they believe their needs require federal help in finding a solution to the labor problem.
Many farmers argue the current, federal H-2A program is too costly and onerous and should be simplified. The program allows farmers to bring workers into the country to work their land temporarily. To use the program farmers must advertise the positions so that American workers have the first opportunity to fill the posts. When the farmers do use the H-2A program they have to pay for the workers' transportation to and from their country of origin, the farmers must provide the workers with housing, and, of course, they have to pay the workers.
As Rathke reports, some farmers are urging Congress to pass the so-called "AgJobs" bill. This legislation allows workers who have "worked in US agriculture for at least 150 days in the previous two years top get some kind of legal status." Their is a version of the AgJobs bill in both the House of Representatives and the US Senate. While this legislation has not moved far in the Congress to date, the attention immigration reform is getting may change this. Farmers also want the H-2A program to be simplified. Otherwise, they warn that production may have to be cut back.
Because of the nature of the work, it appears as though foreign laborers may always be needed for some agricultural production. This means that illegal labor will likely continue to be an issue As Rathke notes, between 2005 and 2007 half the crop workers hired in the US were in the country illegally, according to the federal government's National Agricultural Worker Survey.
Some argue the problem is the farmers, not the work. For example, Rathke reports that the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies', "which advocates for tougher immigration laws," director Jessica Vaughan believes the problem is that farmers "have become addicted to cheap foreign labor and haven't been forced to raise wages to attract other workers or considered mechanization."
Regardless of the cause, the problems of farm labor are real, and as long as immigration reform is being discussed, it seems sensible to tie farm labor issues into any discussion that will yield broad immigrations reform.
To read the Rathke article click here.
For more information on the National Agricultural Workers Survey, click here.
To learn more about farm labor laws, click here to visit the Labor Reading Room at the National Agricultural Law Center.
Posted:05/10/10
