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AFBF applauds Farmworker Protection Rule suspension

The American Farm Bureau Federation says the Department of Labor’s decision not to enforce the Farmworker Protection Rule is good news for farmers and ranchers.

Government Affairs Director John Walt Boatwright tells Brownfield the suspension is especially welcome news for producers who use H-2A labor because of the unanswered legal questions before the courts. “There’s been three different district court decisions that have preliminarily enjoined this rulemaking across several different areas of the rule in several different regions of the country which has created a patchwork of regulations that you can imagine would challenge the enforcement of this rule.”

Boatwright says farmers and ranchers care for and value their employees like family. “When a government agency passes a rulemaking that basically considers every farmer guilty until proven innocent regarding the treatment of their farm workers, it’s really insulting.”

Boatwright says suspension of enforcement is a good but, “It’s got to go away. We would love to see this rule basically recinded by the Trump administration permanently.”

Boatwright says Farm Bureau has had positive conversations with the Trump administration about guestworker visas and agricultural workers, and says the administration understands the challenges, and suspending the Biden-era Farmworker Protection rule is one way to address those challenges.

AUDIO: John Walt Boatwright discusses the suspension of the Farmworker Protection Act and also the need for reforms to allow more guest workers in agriculture including changes to the H-2A program with Brownfield’s Larry Lee