Labor Shortage Hits Agriculture

With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.

For over a decade, farmers have talked about a tight farm labor market and things are not getting better. Veronica Nigh is senior economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation…

“The recent H2A data certainly proves that out. In the second quarter of the fiscal year 2022, which is January through March, the number of applications for H2A workers, which is the Temporary Ag Worker Visa Program increased by more than 17 percent, year over year. The number of certified positions increased even more: it was up by 21 percent.”

 

One of the reasons the labor market is so tight is that the unemployment rate in rural America is often lower than the rest of the economy…

“Those farmers who are already having trouble getting workers out to their farms for long hours and hot weather and oftentimes difficult work, are finding it even more difficult because of an already-tight labor market.”

And, with the current situation, date is showing the issue is spreading further than farms and ranches…

“In the past, it was maybe more of a production ag problem, you know, on the farm, but over time, it's gotten worse and spread throughout the supply chain. So, trucking companies are having trouble finding workers, ag processors are having trouble finding workers, and rural areas, at large, are struggling to find workers. So, certainly, it's been an issue in agriculture for a long time, but it certainly seems to be compounding and growing as time continues.”

 

Again, Veronica Nigh of the American Farm Bureau.