Everett Griner talks about farmers wanting a new labor law in today’s Agri View. Everett takes a look at the current H2A programs and has some agriculture labor statistics for us.
Agriculture is America’s largest employer. The number of those who work on farms is not a firm figure, but it is always the most. Think about this. Some 75 percent of those who grow our crops are foreign born. That is about 2.5 million workers. One-third of them are citizens. Some are here illegally. Some come here just to work on Visa’s. The average age of those workers is about 40 years. Many of them are married and raising children.
What farmers would like to see is a more effective system of bring in temporary workers. Something more stable and would save farmers a good deal of money too. Farmers do not particularly like the current H2A program. Several factors don’t work well for them.
There is hope that the next Farm Bill will work better for both the worker and the farmer.
That’s Agri View for today. I’m Everett Griner…