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Farmer says worker program needs adjustments

A fruit and vegetable farmer from California says the H-2A guest worker program needs improvements.

Ryan Talley says the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), how minimum wages must be paid to farm workers in the program, isn’t economically viable.

“We need to tap the brakes on AEWR,” he says. “Each dollar rise in the AEWR for us, personally on the farm, is $1 million in labor costs additionally off our bottom line. We’re also in charge of the housing and transportation. Depending on who you talk to, that adds an additional $5 to $10/hour on top of AEWR.”

He says labor remains one of the biggest costs for specialty crop growers.

Talley, a panelist in a House Ag Committee hearing this week, also says the deportation of undocumented immigrants from the United States hasn’t been an issue yet on his operation, but there have been labor protests near his farm in California.