The Need for a Labor Solution

The Need for a Labor Solution. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

How many American’s do you suppose aspire to be migrant farm workers? Probably not many. California Farm Bureau President Paul Wenger recently testified before a House subcommittee on immigration policy and enforcement where he pointed out that someone has to do those jobs and in many cases, those workers are foreign, often here illegally.

WENGER: In California alone we rely on 400,000 employees during peak season. Nationally it is estimated that the agricultural workforce consists of 1.83 million hired workers. Some have estimated that as much as 50 to 75 percent of the hired workers are not authorized to work in the United States.

For years farmers and ranchers have asked Congress to address this problem, so they have an adequate legal labor supply.

WENGER: Because much agricultural work is seasonal, intermittent and physically demanding, agriculture does not attract a domestic workforce.Farmers and ranchers across the nation are in critical need of a solution that provides an effective, reliable, legal workforce to cultivate and harvest our crops and tend our livestock.

Wenger says Congress needs to work on a real solution that would help all areas of agriculture get the necessary workers, including livestock and dairy farmers, who aren’t eligible to use the existing government program.

WENGER: The most important features of a solution for our industry would be to recognize that many of our workforce want and need the ability to come to the United States, work on our farms and ranches and return to their home country. The consequences of getting it wrong are serious. Make no mistake. To lose the ability to feed our nation and depend upon foreign-produced food is a national security issue.

He says farm labor is an issue that affects big and small farms and ranches.

WERGER: Agriculture is a very diverse industry. Different regions produce different commodities with widely varying weather, cultivation and harvest times. These diverse needs cannot be addressed through a one-size-fits-all single program solution. This is not just a problem for large farmers. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, 60 percent of hired farm labor is hired by farms with sales of less than a million dollars.

Wenger points out that most Americans aren’t interested in the tough, physical labor involved with working in farm fields.

WENGER: Farmers throughout the United States have tried innovative solutions to secure a domestic labor force. All have failed and not because we don’t pay enough or offer enough benefits. Rather, Americans, through habit and education, have progressed beyond agriculture to other occupations and Americans no longer have the desire for agricultural work.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.