Federal agencies seek input on boosting farm workforce

By Christine Souza

The federal government is asking for input as it shapes a grant program intended to improve the resiliency of the food and agricultural supply chain by addressing labor shortages, legal migration pathways and protections for farmworkers.

“The pandemic highlighted challenges of labor instability, challenges of irregular migration and the need for increased labor protections, all challenges that we need to address in order to increase the resiliency of our food system and supply chain,” said Anne Knapke, U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency deputy chief of staff, during a listening session last week. Three separate sessions were held for agricultural employers, labor unions and farmworker advocacy groups.

With up to $65 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding, Knapke said USDA, in coordination with other federal agencies, is developing a pilot program to provide support for agricultural employers in implementing robust labor standards to promote a safe, healthy work environment for U.S. workers and workers hired from northern Central American countries through the H-2A visa program.

The Farm Service Agency, which is overseeing the program’s development, identified the following program goals: Drive economic recovery and safeguard food security by addressing labor shortages in agriculture; reduce irregular migration through the increased use of legal pathways; and improve working conditions for farmworkers.

Agricultural employers are asked to identify challenges they face in securing a stable workforce, identify incentives that they would like to see from USDA to improve their ability to hire H-2A workers, and labor standards that would ensure a safe and fair working environment for domestic and H-2A farmworkers.

The National Council of Agricultural Employers, in its submitted comments, stated that agricultural employers face several barriers and challenges in accessing the H-2A visa program, including the program’s complexity and cost.

“It costs thousands of dollars for employers to navigate the process and recruit, provide subsistence for workers while they are securing their visas and the visa costs themselves, transport the workers to and from their homes, house the workers while here, and provide meals or free convenient cooking facilities for them to prepare their own meals,” stated NCAE President and CEO Michael Marsh in a Sept. 28 letter submitted to the FSA.

Marsh said, “Employers using the program are required to pay the workers wage rates that are disconnected from the actual market for agricultural wages due to a misuse by the DOL (U.S. Department of Labor) of the USDA’s Farm Labor Survey, a survey not designed to establish wage rates in a temporary work program.”

Agricultural employers from different states asked that the new grant program include incentives to help employers curb inbound and outbound travel costs of H-2A employees. They requested a more streamlined H-2A visa process and to extend program contracts beyond a period of 10 months.

In a session aimed at farmworker advocacy groups, Amy Liebman of the Migrant Clinicians Network said a way to enhance farmworker protections and increase awareness of resources and worker rights is through “meaningful and culturally contextual education.”

“(Educational efforts) must be complimented by strong protective requirements that are part of an H-2A program and that are strongly enforced,” Liebman said. “It’s really important for USDA to put out on the table that the trainings should not be left to growers or contractors, and then farmworker organizations should be supported accordingly to carry out worker-rights training and training on worker health and safety, both in the U.S. and in the sending countries.”

Matthew Viohl, California Farm Bureau associate director of federal policy, said Farm Bureau welcomes review of the inefficiencies in the H-2A visa system by the federal government.

But he added, “We have significant concerns about organized labor groups being directly involved as technical support.”

“Farmers and other agricultural employer groups have been heavily involved in this system for decades and can provide a more exhaustive overview of the challenges plaguing the system,” Viohl said. “It is our hope that the USDA will find ways to solicit feedback and technical support from this area of the industry in order to more successfully overcome these issues.”

FSA said it anticipates the program will launch in spring 2023. To submit public comments by Oct. 24, go to www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/09/23/2022-20677/request-for-information-and-stakeholder -listening-sessions-on-farm-labor -stabilization-and.

(Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)