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Below you'll see everything we could locate for your search of “H-2A program”
By Clint Thompson Specialty crop producers would like nothing more than to hire domestic labor and scrap the expensive and cumbersome H-2A program altogether. But growers are not afforded that option. American workers are dodging work in agriculture, leaving fruit and vegetable work to a seasonal workforce that largely only exists overseas. Certain factions of the nation’s leadership are oblivious …
By Clint Thompson Domestic labor is all but a non-existent option for specialty crop producers. Industry leaders want congressional leaders to understand that reality and the added importance of the H-2A program. Michael Marsh, president and chief executive officer of the National Council of Agricultural Employers, spoke about the current labor crisis at the Georgia Agricultural Labor Relations Forum last …
By Clint Thompson The convoluted and sometimes perplexing nature of the H-2A program has Chris Butts concerned about the ramifications of one misstep by his producers. Butts, executive vice president of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA), continues to voice his concerns with how the methodology is constructed to determine the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR); the expense …
By Clint Thompson The top users of the H-2A program remain the same. The order at the top, though, has changed in recent years. According to John Walt Boatright, director of government affairs with American Farm Bureau, Florida was still the top user of the program from Fiscal Year 2021 to Fiscal Year 2022 with 50,973 certified positions. California was …
By Clint Thompson With all of the expensive headaches that accompany the H-2A program, it still provides growers with a much-needed workforce they aren’t going to find anywhere else. “I think at this particular juncture, people see it as the only game in town. No other viable option has presented itself,” said Veronica Nigh, economist with American Farm Bureau Federation …
By Clint Thompson The mandate that all non-U.S individuals entering the United States show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination will impact specialty crop producers hoping to get H-2A workers into the country in time for the spring crop. That’s the fear anyway shared by American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Director of Congressional Relations Allison Crittendon. “I think it could cause …
Florida and Georgia remained the top two users of the H-2A program, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, as of Sept. 30, 2021. For the fiscal year (FY) 2021, the number of certified positions for Florida numbered 44,706, or 14.1% of the total certified in FY 2021. Georgia was second with 35,205 positions or 11.1%. The other top states …
By Clint Thompson The H-2A temporary agricultural workers program is a “old and outdated system.” Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association (FFVA) President Mike Joyner argues it is a “broken” system in need of immediate repair. “I think first and foremost we struggle to get any domestic workers to work on the farm. We rely so heavily on the H-2A program. …
Farmers agree: H-2A is needed but it can be improved. Foreign workers are needed because of the lack of a domestic workforce. It needs improvement because it is a cumbersome and very expensive process. “It needs to be simplified. It is just the hardest, most complicated thing to do and to stay legal,” said Matt Parke, farm manager of Parkesdale …
When the U.S. government announced its decision to suspend visa processing in Mexico on March 18 to combat the spread of COVID-19, growers around the country immediately expressed concerns that the action could have a major impact on agriculture and the U.S. food supply. The concern, of course, was due to the vital role that foreign workers play in the …
