A change in the White House is not a ‘wait and see’ situation for agricultural groups looking at agricultural labor.
The transition period is ramping up as the Biden-Harris administration prepares for their inauguration. In the next few months, the agricultural industry will begin to see where the new regime stands on key agricultural issues.
Western Growers President and CEO Dave Puglia said that doesn’t mean ag groups are sitting around and waiting. “We are already engaged because we have to be. We have several policies that I think are going to be immediately in play,” Puglia said. “The one that is always at the top of the list is agricultural labor availability.”
Puglia said in that respect, they hope to duplicate what they helped to do last year with the FarmWorker Modernization Act. “We’d like to replicate that again and hopefully get both sides of the capital to pass a bipartisan ag labor solution and put it on the new president’s desk,” Puglia said.
With a more moderate voter turnout, Puglia believes there may be an opportunity for agriculture. “The message that was sent by the voters, if you take away the presidential campaign, was more of a moderate tone than a blue wave,” Puglia stated. “That probably gives us some running room on immigration and ag labor to make another run on this.”
Listen to the radio report with Puglia’s full comments.
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