Farm Labor Program Grants for U.S. Ag Employers

Due to the workforce challenges that the agriculture industry continues to face. USAA has instituted a pilot program called the Farm Labor Stabilization and Protection Pilot Program. Deputy Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation, Gloria Montano Greene discusses what she sees as possible benefits and desired outcomes for improving the Ag workforce via this new pilot program.

“So what we're envisioning is for a lot of those employers that have maybe raised concerns about having difficulty to have some of the financial assistance as they transition into providing some of these supports or needing to have some better knowledge of what our items to apply within the HTA process or needing to have respective support, that is what we're thinking will come out of it. It's going to be an incentive designed to be able to benefit the worker and the employer. So if there's an expectation for some labor standards improvement, how are we able to support that and to be able to alleviate the cost to implement it or the design to be able to implement it? So that's what we're really hoping for and then expanding the countries of where the workforce is coming from

US ag employers that meet federal criteria are encouraged to apply for a grant from USDA to assist with workforce issues. Applications are due by November 28. More information is available online@ams.usda.gov/FLSP