July 2021 - 19

AG LABOR REVIEW
It's all about focus as homestretch of reform beckons
The House of Representatives
MICHAEL MARSH
President & CEO
National Council of
Agricultural Employers
Michael@ncaeonline.org
It is always important to bring focus
to achieving a penultimate goal.
This mantra applies to many things
in our lives. It applies to assuring we
have properly irrigated and nurtured
our crops prior to their harvest and
kept the pests away. It applies to our
physical training for a big race or
diligent study for an important test.
It applies to the spiritual and familial
things we engage in which nourish our
very soul.
Believe it or not, it also applies in
the political world (as opposed to the
real one) as we strive to pass critical
legislation. Focus is important to
achieving that penultimate goal.
Farmers and ranchers have been
toiling for decades in Washington, D.C.,
to pass important legislation securing a
reliable workforce. They have left their
land and their families to make the
jaunt to the nation's Capitol to press
their case for agricultural labor reform.
They have watched as the challenges to
sustaining their businesses with few of
our neighbors willing to come out to
the farm or ranch and help do the hard
work of securing our nation. These
hearty individuals have been making
that jaunt for decades.
And, for decades, distractions
from focus have led to an inability for
agriculture to get to the goal of achieving
a presidential signature on a bill that
will accomplish this needed reform.
Agriculture must have that focus now.
earlier this year once again passed
the Farm Workforce Modernization
Act. The bill was one of those too rare
occasions in Washington, D.C., where
leadership emerges from both sides
of the political spectrum to advance
something for the good of our nation.
The president indicated his support for
agricultural labor reform in his recent
address to Congress.
So right now, politically, there is
an important component missing to
achieving the goal of reform.
The National Council of
Agricultural Employers (NCAE)
serves on the Steering Committee of
the Agricultural Workforce Coalition
(AWC). The AWC is working right
now to resolve that missing political
piece necessary to realize that
penultimate goal. We have started
conversations with the U.S, Senate to
encourage a similar bipartisan effort to
get us to the finish line. And, we seem
to be making progress, but we must
hurry, as the clock is already ticking
down to another election cycle.
A Senate bill, just like the legislation
that emerged from the House, will
be a compromise. NCAE is working
collaboratively to see if we can achieve
a bill that strongly considers the needs
of agricultural employers. Of course,
that is who we work for and we are
proud of that responsibility.
A Senate bill must address reform
measures for our existing workforce,
but at the same time has to prepare
us for a future flow of workers to do
farm tasks that too few Americans are
willing to do.
Like many businesspeople, I am
always fascinated with numbers. You
probably are too, so I will share a few
to add some context to this discussion.
The last U.S. Census of Agriculture
that was performed by the USDA was
for 2017. The next one will be done in
2022. The most recent census indicated
that, for 2017, there were 2.4 million
agricultural workers hired in the U.S.
At the present time, annually, just
north of 200,000 visas are issued for
temporary ag workers to come into the
U.S. as H-2A workers. It is important
because, although agricultural jobs
pay well (on average more than twice
the federal minimum wage, according
to USDA), fewer and fewer domestic
workers desire to come out to the farm
or ranch to lend a hand.
The 2015-2016, National Ag Worker
Survey (NAWS) that is done by the
Department of Labor adds more context.
The next survey for 2017-2018 should be
published any day. The NAWS points out
that many domestic workers are quickly
aging out of agriculture. The survey
also notes that of the existing domestic
agricultural workforce, about half of the
workers are absent proper authorization.
So, if we do the arithmetic,
2.4 million hired ag workers, minus
200,000 temporary H-2A ag workers,
leaves a population of approximately
2.2 million domestic workers. And
about half of those workers, or maybe
1.1 million, may be unauthorized.
And all of the domestic ag workers,
authorized and otherwise, are trending
older.
Not a bright future if you are a farm
or ranch family who needs workers.
Consequently, the Senate bill that
will emerge from our effort must
contain elements that assure the present
workforce is maintained. Some existing
ag workers will need a path to attain
legal status. At the same time, a Senate
Farms face a shortage of agricultural
workers, a situation many feel can be aided
by reforms that could come from legislative
solutions. Photo: Gary Pullano
bill must ensure that in the future, if a
farm or ranch family needs someone
to pitch in, they will be able to find a
good employee ready, willing and able
to perform. That reformed future flow
program must not be so unwieldy that
it crushes the legacy family operations
it is supposed to help.
NCAE is focused on achieving our
goal. I hope you will help us bring
focus to the politicians. VGN
Notes from the Farm
A collection on what's worked and what hasn't
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July 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2021