Yesterday we discussed a dilemma regarding the hiring of labor by American Ag producers. It’s hard to find a politically correct description for the people who apply for farm jobs in these highly charged times incorporating sometimes explosive debate. Let’s use the term foreign born, just to be safe. There are strict laws about hiring undocumented workers to do good jobs that apparently American born workers are not willing to do.

 

Brent Olmstead, Executive Director of Milk Producers of Idaho and coordinator of the immigration commission says it in a nutshell. “There’s a whole labor force out there that Americans won’t apply for the job. Hotel maids, bussing tables, milking cows, irrigating crops, picking fruit. Most of them are agricultural positions.”

 

Bottom line, Ag producers need help and clarification and to that end…The Idaho Dairy industry has formed an immigration reform coalition in the State of Idaho. This coalition wants to reduce the responsibility of employers in the hiring process so that they don’t risk losing their business licenses or worse.

 

“What our coalition wants is secure borders, an increase in the number of work visas to match the demand for labor, a system where the employer is sure he’s hiring a legal worker, and let us go about and do our business then.”