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Push for H-2A wage freeze persists

A specialty crop leader says there’s still hope the appropriations process can put a freeze on rising H-2A guest worker wages.

Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board executive director Jamie Clover Adams tells Brownfield a nearly 40 percent rise in federally mandated H-2A wages over the past five years has pushed farmers to their financial limit.

“We’ve been working all fall on raising awareness,” she shares. “What happens to our growers, to our rural communities, to our workers, to the workers in processing and packing if we don’t do something about this wage rate?”

The bipartisan Supporting Farm Operations Act introduced in the U.S. House by Michigan Congressman John Moolenaar could provide short-term relief if it’s passed during the lame-duck session.

Clover Adams says the legislation has the support of nearly every member of Michigan’s Congressional delegation, but more is needed.

“They all understand what this means, and so I’m hopeful that at least people will consider it and not just dismiss it.

She says Michigan farmers are at a competitive disadvantage paying more than 80 percent above the state’s minimum wage and the fourth highest rate in the country to use the program.

Brownfield interviewed Clover Adams during the recent MSU Farm Labor Conference.