Farmers for FWMA Pt 1
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. Farmers need labor certainty from the H-2A guestworker program.
After years of working for reforms, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act is the best chance for ag to receive the labor it needs.
Third generation Idaho farmer, Shay Myers says the need for farm labor reform is real …
MYERS … “Two springs ago, when asparagus was generally harvested in April in May, we ended up donating at the end of the day, but we were unable to market over 150,000 pounds of our asparagus. And that was due to the inability to cross H-2A workers with the speed that was needed, and there was no domestic availability of labor, and that meant that we lost all of the profit for that entire year.”
Myers says a lack of available labor through the H-2A programs means higher prices for consumers …
MYERS … “It just means more expensive food. We already have inflation pressure, but the fewer workers that are available, the higher the cost of those workers and the higher likelihood of wasted food during the entire process from field to fork, the consumer is going to feel the cost implications.”
Myers says it’s time to move the bill in the Senate …
MYERS … “Congress needs to fix it. This is 30 years that we've been trying to fix this problem and it's really frustrating as a farmer, just as a citizen for that matter, to see how we keep kicking the can down the road.”
The Farm Workforce Modernization Act passed the House of Representatives earlier this year.
