Farm Labor Reform Falls Flat
It’s time for your Southeast Regional Ag News. On the Ag Information Network, I’m Haylie Shipp,
Farm labor reform remains a priority for the American Farm Bureau Federation and its President, Zippy Duvall.
The Senate last year failed to advance a last-minute Farm Workforce Modernization Act, a bill that some thought to be the best chance for farm labor reform in decades. The legislation was passed by the House more than a year earlier.
However, AFBF President Duvall says the legislation didn’t do enough for Farm Bureau…
“It just wasn’t enough, and it didn’t go far enough to provide enough workers for all of agriculture. And we are very concerned about the wage rate formula because we don’t think it’s sustainable. It’s outgrowing the costs of anywhere across the country and we want to make sure that we have time to work on that formula that calculates that wage rate. We have to do better, and we must do better to make sure that it’s sustainable for the farmer and for the workers.”
What’s the foreign farm labor picture here in the Southeast? I just pulled the numbers from fiscal year 2022 from the Department of Labor for the H-2A Program. Florida ranked number one for usage in the nation, making up 13.7% of total certified positions. California was second followed by Georgia at 9.4%. Alabama not in the top 10.
