Advocates for farmers and agricultural workers say it's vital to pass federal legislation reforming migrant worker visas to bring down food costs and to limit devastating levels of food waste.
The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
The bill would create “certified agricultural worker” status for certain foreign farm employees, allowing them to stay in the United States for 5.5 years and could be extended. After meeting certain requirements those workers would be able to apply for permanent resident status. In an October press conference, Erie County vegetable grower Bob Jones noted that the U.S. now imports more food than it exports.
The group said that without the caps, farm wages are poised to jump sharply, exacerbating already high food inflation. In a statement, James O’Neill, the group’s outreach director, said the bill before the Senate “would improve upon the House-passed Farm Workforce Modernization Act , which would freeze H-2A guest worker wages for one year, then cap wages at 3.25% so that farmers can keep their doors open — and have the transparency and predictability they need to budget for labor.
“Farmworkers gave up future wage increases in exchange for legalization and a path to citizenship. Everybody gave up something and everybody got something important in return,” she said in an email.“The real question here is why are Republican senators willing to sacrifice farmers and farm communities from their home states rather than pursue solutions?” she asked.
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