By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH

Indiana Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Some agriculture-related organizations are applauding a proposed guest worker program its author said would benefit farmers and ranchers.

Earlier this month, U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) unveiled the Agricultural Guestworker Act, which would replace the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers program with a new H-2C plan. The act would make 500,000 visas available annually to H-2C workers.

Returning H-2A workers and previously unauthorized workers who participate legally in the new program wouldn’t count toward the yearly visa limit, he said. It would also reallocate 10,000 permanent green cards currently available annually for unskilled workers, to experienced agricultural workers only.

The act calls for the USDA to administer the program. The proposal would allow some workers to initially remain in the country for 36 months; subsequent work periods for year-round agricultural jobs would be for 18 months. H-2C would expand to include aquaculture, dairies, raw food processors, forestry and other year-round employers.

The plan would require employers to pay H-2C workers the higher of either the state/local minimum wage or 115 percent of the federal minimum wage. It would also give employers the option of providing workers housing and transportation.

Goodlatte, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, called the H-2A program “outdated and broken. Each year, employers using the H-2A program have to comply with a lengthy labor certification process that is slow and plagued with red tape. As a result of complying with H-2A regulations, employers using the program almost always find themselves at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace.”

The H-2A program is expensive, time-consuming and flawed, he added. “It’s well past the time to replace it with a reliable, efficient and fair program that provides American farmers access to a legal, stable supply of workers, both in the short- and long-term, for seasonal as well as year-round work.

“(USDA) clearly understands the unique needs of America’s farm and ranch operations and the importance of getting perishable agricultural commodities to the marketplace in an efficient manner.”

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) supports Goodlatte’s proposal, said Zippy Duvall, AFBF president.

“Every year, farmers and ranchers face greater challenges in finding enough workers to keep their businesses running,” he explained. “The labor shortage on America’s farms and ranches is growing, and the lack of a stable, legal supply of workers places the health of too many farms at risk.

“(The proposal) would bring much needed improvements to the current system while addressing the needs of our current workforce and providing a streamlined visa process for skilled, agricultural workers in the future.”

Paul Schlegel, director of AFBF’s Energy and Environment Team, said about one-third of agriculture’s workforce is hired, a percentage that equates to roughly more than 1 million people.

“The goal is to get where the grower doesn’t have to depend on someone whose status is uncertain,” he explained. “It’s important to get a program that works so growers have confidence in the legal status of their workers.”

Stories abound nationwide of farmers not having enough workers, Schlegel said. “You hear about farmers plowing fields under because they couldn’t get workers, couldn’t get everything out of their fields. You know it’s there, you know there’s anxiety among growers.

“Normally workers just show up because they know when certain fruits and vegetables are ready. It’s not happening anymore. They’re scrambling to find workers,” he said.

AFBF is concerned about the plan’s cap on visas, Schlegel said, adding that Goodlatte knows the organization prefers no limit on the number of visas.

The Dairy Business Milk Marketing Cooperative, based in Wisconsin, also supports Goodlatte’s proposal, said Jerry Meissner, a member of the co-op’s board of directors and head of the Federal Policy Committee.

“It’s probably the best opportunity, it has the most legs, for finding a comprehensive solution that includes access for dependable, year-round labor,” he noted. “Right now, what Representative Goodlatte has put forward is an exciting plan where it might give us some breathing room.”

A lack of workers has been an increasing problem for many years in the dairy industry and for agriculture in general, Meissner said. “Around Wisconsin, everyone seems to be coming into a critical period where it’s more and more difficult to find workers to do hard labor. It’s very real and very critical. This is a vital issue to the industry, going forward.”

While many farming organizations offered support for the proposal, the United Farm Workers (UFW) said the plan would undermine wages and working conditions of all agricultural workers.

“Instead of taking agriculture back to the 1940s, join us in asking Congress to refocus on the one thing that could stabilize agriculture quickly: Providing farm workers already laboring in the U.S. with a path to lawful permanent residency and eventual citizenship,” the organization stated.

The proposal would result in the displacement of U.S. agricultural workers and create more unfairness and dysfunction in the current immigration system, UFW said.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) called the proposal an important first step toward reforming the nation’s immigration system. “The Ag Act makes a number of improvements to the current system, which has been extremely problematic for producers,” said Zack Clark, the organization’s director of government relations.

“There are outstanding issues that must be addressed for the benefit of American agriculture that NFU will work to ensure as the process moves forward.” NFU declined additional comment on those issues, when asked.

The National Pork Producers Council also supports Goodlatte’s plan, according to Ken Maschhoff, its president.

“The U.S. pork industry is suffering from a serious labor shortage,” he noted. “The U.S. pork industry needs a viable agriculture workforce to remain globally competitive. The current visa programs are not working for pork producers, or for the broader agriculture community.”