Ag Secretary Rollins Touts H-2A Changes as Relief for Ag Labor Challenges

Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins says the Trump administration continues to address labor challenges that are facing America’s farmers and ranchers.

During her remarks at the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention, she said updates to wage rates for the H-2A visa program could deliver significant relief. “This change will save our farmers over $2 billion in labor costs alone every single year.”

Last year, the Department of Labor revised its methodology to determine Adverse Effect Wage Rates for H-2A guestworkers by using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics instead of USDA’s Farm Labor Survey.

Rollins said USDA is working with Departments of Labor and Homeland Security to allow producers to submit applications simultaneously. “I couldn’t even believe it when they told me the process that our farmers had to go through under H-2A. Now, we’re shortening the time to make it more efficient, hopefully making it much less expensive to all of you and your costs, understanding that there is so much more work to do on labor.”

Nebraska Farm Bureau President Mark McHargue tells Brownfield the program needs to include an exception for agriculture. “We really need that to be year-round. It might work for some in agriculture, but it doesn’t really work for livestock.”

And, he says, “We have to recognize that we do have a labor force that on some of these farms have been working there for 20 years and we have to figure out how to how to work within that to be able to get them to stay here.”

Congress has failed to pass any meaningful immigration reform for the last 20 years.

EDITOR’S TAKE:

Ag labor availability is now one of the top issues facing American agriculture. The current system is in dire need of reform, but with immigration currently being such a hot political potato, it seems unlikely that needed changes are going to happen in the near future. Farmers and ranchers at the American Farm Bureau Annual Meeting recently passed policy recommendations that outline potential changes. The work by USDA is a small step forward, but the journey to true reform is going to be a long one.

This might be a great opportunity for your dealership to offer annual service contracts that would help the farmer/rancher save time and labor. Providing routine maintenance with a mobile service and parts unit could also be a good investment on your part.