By Zippy Duvall
On my farm and farms across the country, nothing happens without people. Behind every harvest is a team of dedicated workers helping bring food from our fields to families’ kitchen tables.
Farmers value our employees. Many of us work alongside the same people for decades, and those relationships matter. But right now, farmers are in the middle of a labor crisis that is putting that work, and our food supply, at risk.
We’re seeing it every day. Crops are left to rot in the fields. Farmers are scaling back. Some are even going out of business because they simply can’t find the help they need.
Public Support for Ag Labor Solutions Is Clear
Americans understand what’s at stake. Seven in ten adults support farmers having access to H-2A guestworkers, and two in three recognize that without those guestworkers, the U.S. would have to rely more heavily on imported food.
Even more telling, two in three Americans understand that without access to a reliable workforce, many family farms wouldn’t survive. At a time when there’s growing interest in healthy food and how it’s grown, these numbers matter. Families want fresh, American-grown food. But that only happens if farmers have the workforce to produce it.
A Broken Ag Labor System Is Failing Farmers
The current system isn’t keeping up with the realities of modern agriculture. Farmers need workers both seasonally and year-round, but the H-2A program doesn’t fully meet those needs. At the same time, domestic labor shortages remain severe. When these jobs are posted, less than 1% are ever filled by a domestic applicant, and even fewer stay through the season.
Source : fb.org