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Rollins: Agencies aggressively looking at solutions to farm labor

Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins says a multi-agency effort is underway to help improve the nation’s farm labor crisis.

“If our farmers can’t have the workforce they need, which many cannot, and don’t have access to. We need to fix that and change it.”

Speaking with reporters in Nebraska earlier this week, she said the USDA and the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security are aggressively exploring ways to ensure a reliable and lasting workforce.

She says that includes creating a process that would allow farmers to hire undocumented employees who would need to self deport and return legally.  “Our teams are meeting and are figuring out how to make that a reality, what that looks like and what the timeline looks like.”  

But, Rollins says, the best solution will ultimately need to come from legislation in Congress.