“NMPF thanks Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA) for their tireless efforts on behalf of America’s dairy producers to include year-round employees on farms in the H-2A farm worker visa program. We urge Congress not to delay providing dairy farmers with access to the H-2A program during a time of critical labor needs.
“Dairy farmers largely have not been able to use H-2A visas because the current program is limited only to the temporary and seasonal labor needs of agricultural employers. The current H-2A program simply isn’t an option for a commodity that ‘harvests’ its product multiple times a day, every day.
“The Cuellar-Newhouse bipartisan amendment to this year’s Homeland Security Appropriations bill would allow farm employers to use the H-2A visa program to hire foreign workers, regardless of whether those employees are engaged in temporary or seasonal work. Under this amendment, dairy farmers and other year-round producers could use the H-2A program to supplement their domestic workforce.
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