Everett Griner talks about the farm labor shortage issue and offers a possible solution in today’s Agri View.
Here we are well into the summer, and a news column I have is already outdated. It is a report on farm labor shortage in twenty states. The problem referred to in this report deals with the H-2A program and other government efforts to bring migrant workers into the United States to harvest this year’s crops. Now, obviously it is too late. Our labor department fails to comply with rules that require it to help farmers find adequate help to produce and harvest our crops. The sad commentary is, it isn’t just this year. This problem has been going on since it was set up. Somebody failed to realize that lost crops means lost revenue. Well, here is a simple solution. Tie the salary to production. In other words, no worker, no pay. How many years would farmers face labor shortages if that were the law?