Legislation Aimed at Building Farm Workforce

October 27, 1999

Legislation scheduled to be introduced today in the Senate is aimed at providing an adequate workforce to U.S. farmers. The bill would reform the H-2a temporary farm worker program to make it more attractive for farmers to use.

Farmers have not used the program in the past mostly due to regulatory restrictions imposed by the Department of Labor, says American Farm Bureau Federation President Dean Kleckner. "Farmers have found it difficult to clear costly and burdensome regulatory hurdles in a timely manner during peak seasons such as harvest when there simply aren't enough workers available in their specific regions," says Kleckner.

When domestic labor supplies are low, the new legislation would provide U.S. farmers the option to hire farm workers from other countries "during crucial periods when a matter of days can make or break a crop."

The legislation seeks to reform the H-2a program by streamlining the application process, controlling unreasonable program costs and offering farmers certainty about program requirements. It also offers fraudulently documented farm laborers who have been working in the United States over the last year the chance to gain legal status to continue working.

If laborers continue working in agriculture for seven years, they would be eligible to apply for a green card which further legitimizes their positions in the workforce, says AFBF.