With reports of farm labor shortages becoming endemic across the country, farmers are pressuring Congress to reform the work visa program so that farmers can guarantee an available labor supply.

For the last two years, farmers across the country have struggled against a shrinking labor supply. In part, the lack of farm labor has been driven by various immigration policies enacted by federal and state governments. In Arizona, Alabama, and Georgia, for example, tough immigration laws have driven away undocumented workers, who typically compose a significant portion of the agricultural workforce, and have even frightened away legal immigrants (many of whom fear harassment in the wake of harsh new laws).

These labor shortages have spread to other states, resulting in farmers across the country reporting a critical lack of farmhands. According to the head of the North Carolina Grower’s Association, “There are simply not enough legal or illegal workers around that want our farm jobs. You might have to scale your operations back drastically. Or you might choose to give up labor-intensive crops. Or you might even have to give up agriculture altogether.”

One solution to this problem is the work visa program, which offers farmers a reliable labor supply and protects workers from harassment and deportation. The problem with the work visa program, some farmers say, is that it is overly bureaucratic and expensive, leaving many agricultural producers looking for undocumented labor rather than dealing with the red tape of the H-2A program.

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s reversal of Arizona’s immigration law, many farmers are urging Congress to reduce the red tape and bureaucracy of the work visa program.

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Written by: Justin Ellison / Farm Plus Staff Writer