AFBF’s Duvall Calls for Guest Worker Program in Editorial

The President of the American Farm Bureau Federation is calling on Congress to create a guest worker program for agriculture.  In an editorial in the L.A. Times, Zippy Duvall said the U.S. has a farm labor shortage.

AFBF welcomed legislation recently introduced by California Democrat, U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren, who is the chair of the House Immigration Subcommittee.  Duvall said the Agricultural Worker Program Act of 2019, if passed, would provide a pathway to legalization for agricultural workers who are already here.  But more is needed, according to Duvall, who says U.S. agriculture needs a guest worker program that “will help us replace the workers covered by the Lofgren bill as they age out or move to other sectors of the economy."

Duvall added the U.S. needs a guest worker program that is flexible for farmers and ranchers, and that it should grant flexibility for growers who cannot construct housing, by allowing them to use a housing voucher for workers.

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