It has a long way to go before becoming law, but the introduction of a bipartisan immigration reform bill is significant for U.S. agriculture. A group of senators has unveiled a comprehensive immigration reform bill that includes provisions for a new agricultural guestworker program. American Farm Bureau Federation president Bob Stallman said that’s extremely important for the future of agriculture.
“We appreciate the tireless efforts of Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Michael Bennett (D-Colo.) to garner consensus and agreement by all parties on such a significant issue. … Ensuring access to a legal workforce is a high priority for AFBF, and we are pleased with this first step in the process. We look forward to working with Senate and House leaders as comprehensive immigration reform legislation is introduced and moves its way through Congress.”
The ability of laborers from outside the United States to fill farm jobs is critical, Stallman explained. “We have to have workers to tend to, harvest and plant our crops. Now, without that, what will happen—and what has happened to some extent when there have been worker shortages—is some operations move into another country, so we’re importing products.”
The proposed guestworker program, he said, would provide a stable, legal workforce for U.S. agriculture.
“What we proposed was basically a two-prong program. One was an ‘at-will’ program. That means a worker could come across the border with a legal visa and work wherever he could find work for a designated agricultural employer. So he can move from job to job as work demands dictated.
“Another part is the contract provisions where a worker can come across, with a proper visa, and then work under a contract much like the H-2A program. Now, only, the bureaucratic requirements would be much less for the ag employers and would make it much easier for them to use the program.”
Previously, Stallman said, a challenge for employers using the H-2A program has been negotiating the regulatory process in time to have workers in the fields when they were needed. “Delays in the process meant that the workers wouldn’t show up when they were needed. They would show up maybe two weeks later, but that was after the crop was already ripe and you know if it’s not picked when it’s ripe, you basically lose it.”
He called the legislation a win-win for farmers, foreign-born laborers and consumers.
“Americans, I think, have a greater comfort level with the fact that their food is produced here and subject to all the rigorous requirements we have for food safety. So consumers are better off with us having a strong agricultural industry in this country.”
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