A bill endorsed by President Donald Trump that would change the U.S. immigration system may harm farm labor. The bill by Republican Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia would reduce the number of legal immigrants coming into the United States and emphasize highly educated immigrants over what is regarded as the low-skilled laborers, which could be …
H-2A Contracts, Costs and Considerations
By Jaci Schreckengost The H-2A program is a guest-worker program that allows people from other countries to come to the United States on a visa as agricultural employees for temporary, seasonal work. Many industries are beginning to use H-2A due to uncertainty over the domestic labor supply, says Fritz Roka, an associate professor of agriculture economics at the University of …
Trump Unveils New Immigration Legislation
Since the beginning of his presidential campaign, Donald Trump has been vocal about his urgency to reform U.S. immigration policy. When he was elected, business leaders, especially within the agriculture industry, waited to see what Trump’s immigration plans were and what those plans would mean for their workforce. An announcement from Trump today, August 2, may give the agriculture industry …
NMPF Proposal to Improve H-2A for Dairy Advances Thanks to Rep. Newhouse
In a meeting with Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), National Milk Producers Federation President and CEO Jim Mulhern expressed appreciation on behalf of the nation’s dairy farmers for the congressman’s work to advance NMPF’s proposal to expand the H-2A farm worker visa program to include year-round employees on dairy farms. During consideration Wednesday of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s annual …
H-2A Visa Program May Be Expanded
The House Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment to the fiscal 2018 Homeland Security Spending Bill that would help dairy producers and other farmers that need year round labor. The amendment would expand the types of businesses that can apply for the H-2A visa program for temporary or seasonal workers. Politico’s Morning Ag Report says it would also nullify the requirement …
Rural Unemployment Rates Declining
Unemployment rates in rural areas of the nation have been steadily declining since 2010. This trend has been reported by Farm Journal’s AgWeb, noting that both rural and urban unemployment rates have approached pre-recession levels. As of 2016, the overall unemployment rate was 5.7 percent in rural areas and 5.2 percent in urban areas. Before this decline, unemployment rates in …
Agri View: Talk Continues on Effects of the Wall
Everett Griner talks about how the wall will affect agriculture in today’s Agri View. Well, talk continues about the wall. What is it going to cost? Estimates range from 8 billion to 25 billion dollars. Whatever the cost, constructing that wall is not the only thing that generates financial repercussions. Trade, especially farm trade. Sale of farm …
Agri View: Farm Labor Help Needed
Everett Griner talks about farm labor continuing to be a problem in today’s Agri View. An adequate supply of migrant labor is still a serious problem for agriculture, especially in the south. Our new administration has nothing to do with it although it isn’t any better. The solution was supposed to be the H-2A Program where a farmer …
New Proposal Could Protect Farm Workers from Deportation
The American agriculture industry relies on foreign workers, especially at harvest time. The website Eater Dot Com reports a group of Democrats has introduced legislation that would give farm workers some protection from possible deportation. The bill is called the Agricultural Worker Program Act of 2017 (Senate Bill 1034). It would protect undocumented workers from deportation if they can prove …
Pleased with Protection for Farmworkers
A bill introduced last week in the U.S. Senate would give farmworkers a path to legal status and citizenship. And during a conference call this week Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers of America, was pleased with introduction of this legislation. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced the legislation and explains how it works. More information about the new …