March 2025 - 11

LEGISLATION
Michigan ag leaders spearhead
H-2A education campaign
Program to inform public, lawmakers about AEWR challenges
BY DOUG OHLEMEIER
ASSISTANT EDITOR
M
ichigan's fruit and vegetable
industry leaders have been
working to educate the public
and influence federal lawmakers
about the burdens increasing
Adverse Effect
Wage Rates
(AEWR) are
having upon
the state's
growers.
The Protect
Jamie Clover Adams
our Produce
Coalition
implemented
a targeted,
state-led
public relations campaign to educate
policymakers about the negative
effects of the escalating governmentmandated
H-2A AEWR in Michigan, said
Jamie Clover Adams, executive director
of the Michigan Asparagus Advisory
Board, who's spearheading the effort.
" The objective of the campaign is
to drive awareness of how existing
federal policies are threatening
domestic production of specialty
crops and consideration of how the
consequences of these policies create
winners - foreign producers - and
losers - seasonal workers, American
farmers and food consumers, " Clover
Adams said. " The campaign will build
on existing efforts in Washington D.C.
to address escalating government
mandated wages that must be paid
to H-2A workers used across the
specialty crop industry. "
She said the campaign can
complement national efforts. " Our
proximity to growers makes us
uniquely positioned to effectively
educate policymakers on the
immediate and long-term impacts
their action/inaction have on our
growers and underscore the urgent
need for action. "
Founding coalition members include:
* Michigan Asparagus Advisory
Board
* Michigan Blueberry
Commission
* Michigan State Horticultural
Society
* Michigan Tree Fruit Commission
* Michigan Vegetable Council
* Potato Growers of Michigan
* Cherry Marketing Institute
* Michigan Agribusiness
Association
* Michigan Farm Bureau
Ultimately, the organization wants
to work with other grower groups in
other states, Clover Adams said.
Grower leaders in Michigan's
asparagus industry were galvanized
by an increase of more than $3 per
hour during 2022 and 2023 in the
Michigan asparagus growers who also grow a
wide variety of vegetables and fruits see Michigan's
asparagus industry as the canary in the coal mine
when it comes to the negative impact of escalating
H-2A labor rates on specialty crop agriculture. "
- Jamie Clover Adams
H-2A labor rate. The growers felt
policymakers were turning a deaf
ear to the wage increases' negative
impacts on their farms. The growers
wanted to find a way to highlight the
impacts of government decisions
and indecision regarding the H-2A
labor rate on growers and rural
communities, Clover Adams said.
" Michigan asparagus growers
who also grow a wide variety of
vegetables and fruits see Michigan's
asparagus industry as the canary
in the coal mine when it comes to
the negative impact of escalating
H-2A labor rates on specialty crop
agriculture, " Clover Adams said.
Escalating government mandated
wages for growers who use the H-2A
program is threatening domestic
production of fruits and vegetables
and the viability of the state's growers
and their family businesses, she
said. The wage increases are making
U.S. growers uncompetitive in the
marketplace, Clover Adams said.
Between 2012 and 2022, Michigan
lost 15,530 acres of fruit and
vegetables, a 6% decline in fruit and
vegetable acreage at a time when
the federally mandated wage rate
increased 42.6%.
In 2023, H-2A workers harvesting
asparagus made 21 cents per
pound on average. The figure does
not include additional benefits of
housing, transportation or farm
labor contractor costs, all paid by the
small business owner. The median
grower return per-pound after all
expenses was, on average, 0.116
cents per pound, Clover Adams said.
A small Michigan apple grower lost
an average of minus 44 cents per
pound on apples in 2023 while workers
received wages, housing and benefits
of 14 cents per pound, she said.
The Michigan asparagus
industry invested $100,000 into the
educational marketing campaign.
VEGETABLEGROWERSNEWS.COM | 11
http://www.VEGETABLEGROWERSNEWS.COM
March 2025

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