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Dairy farmers able to access H-2A program under new interpretations

New federal clarifications on the H-2A guest worker program will allow dairy farms to access temporary workers.

National Council of Farmer Cooperatives CEO Duane Simpson tells Brownfield, “We’ve been working for years to try to expand the use of H-2A labor to those organizations that need labor that is virtually year-round, the law has always allowed for those jobs to be less than a year.”

Simpson says the Securing Agriculture Workforce Act, expected to be introduced by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson later this month, would even further improve recent H-2A modifications.

“It’s long overdue legislation that would dramatically improve the ag labor situation in America,” he says. “And candidly, it will have an impact both on cost for farmers and, of course, long-term on cost for affordability in the grocery store.”

The U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Labor are recognizing that dairy operations may experience temporary or seasonal labor needs that qualify for H-2A employment and say farmers may use the current process.

Thompson says his legislation has three major goals: expanding access, controlling costs, and streamlining the H-2A agricultural guest worker program.