News

New H-2A legislation coming: GOP ag lawmakers target year-round farm labor needs & cost controls

U.S. House Republican ag leaders say work is underway to expand how farmers can utilize the H-2A guest worker program.

Michigan Congressman Bill Huizenga tells Brownfield House Ag Committee chair Glenn “GT” Thompson has legislation in the works that’s expected to be introduced later this spring.

“We’ve been working on a number of issues that affect agriculture for quite a while, the AEWR wage rates have been a big, big issue,” he says.

The Department of Labor recently revised how it calculates its Adverse Effect Wage Rate, bringing pay closer to the minimum wage and providing other improvements farmers have been requesting for nearly a decade.

Michigan Farm Bureau President and cherry grower Ben LaCross says the program still has plenty of areas where reforms are needed.

“That can include more expanded H-2A contracts that will allow farm workers to stay here beyond the 12-month period,” he says. “Our dairy farms desperately need labor help, our livestock farms need labor help, and our processing sector needs labor help.”

During a farmer roundtable on Monday, U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer said she wants to be an ally for farmers and pointed to the Office of Immigration Policy, which she created to help make programs like H-2A more workable.

She says her agency is taking input from producers ahead of its spring rule-making priorities and is exploring what options could help extend the seasonality of the program, among other regulatory hurdles.

AUDIO: Brownfield interview with Ben LaCross