Congress Set to Address Farm Labor Shortage Issue

WASHINGTON, DC – In recent testimony before Congress, American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall identified the farm workforce as the biggest challenge facing U.S. agriculture. The House may respond this week with the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (HR1603). According to the Agribusiness Freedom Foundation (AFF), the bill would make it easier for farmers and ranchers to take advantage of H-2A programs to get ag workers, provide the security of official legal status for ag workers, while allowing some to earn green card status after meeting specific requirements. The biggest problem with the bill is numbers says Steve Dittmer AFF Executive Vice President, “the bill limits the number of new visas to 20,000 and half of that number is allocated to dairy workers” though an additional 40,000 green cards annually would be issued to workers. Farm workers can apply for Certified Agricultural Worker (CAW) status which is a temporary status for ag workers employed for at least 180 days during the last two years and as long as the worker puts in 100 days per year, that status can be renewed indefinitely. Applicants and their spouses and minor children must be background checked and pass criminal and national security checks. The H-2A process would also migrate to an online platform, so all involved agencies can be working on filing requests at the same time and electronic job postings instead of newspaper ads improves the process. Once the program has been set up, a mandatory national E-Verify system for ag employment would be established.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)