H-2A Benefits
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Finding qualified farm labor is a challenge everywhere in agriculture, but some are hesitant to figure out the H2A process. MásLabor CEO Edward Silva says those that are willing to comply with H2A requirements are finding it’s more than worth the investment.
Silva... "And so we visited a local client here about 30, 40 minutes outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, and the way they think about it. And with the guy, the individual told me there, their CFO said, look, the H-2A workers – one, we can't find American workers who want to do this job. But the bigger piece was, he said, look, the H-2A worker that's here, they are three times more productive in terms of their output. And I asked him, how do you measure this? And he said, well, look, we have records of throughput on the particular mechanism to have, which is similar to a kind of a potting of plant and we can see throughput, and sure enough, these guys are three times more productive."
Silva says many workers return for each growing season, which means no retraining is needed.
Silva... "They're highly incentivized to come back year after year, which means every year it saves the company on having to retrain. Year one, they're nervous. And we spend a lot more time with those clients in year one, but year two guys get off the bus, they put their bags in the barracks and they know exactly where to go. And they can just get to work. They want to work. They're happy to be there. It's not easy work by any means, but, but the opportunity is so, big for them that they're willing to really dig in."
That's Edward Silva of másLabor.
