AEWR Reform
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. With sky high labor costs in recent years, farmers got some good news from the Department of Labor last week.
Kate Tynan, Senior Vice President at the Northwest Horticultural Council, says this announcement is coming a good time and could help growers become sustainable once again …
TYNAN … “Up until about four or five years ago we were telling DOL as well as Congress that these changes are necessary to prevent farms from going out of business. And at this point we’ve seen farms go out of business with this being the biggest driving factor. And this is about, really, stopping that trend.”
So, what’s changed? …
TYNAN … “They’re changing the way that they’re calculating of the Adverse Effect Wage Rate, which I will note is the minimum wage rate required for growers to participate in the H-2A program.”
Tynan says it’s been out of control for far too long …
TYNAN … “Well, it was really just driving wages up at such an unsustainable rate that the economy really could not support. And I’ll give you an example; in the last ten years, the Adverse Effect Wage Rate has increased by 59% in Washington and Oregon.”
This year, Tynan says we’re on track for growers to spend 97% of their earnings from the sale of their fruit only on labor costs.
