“Our Farming Industry Is So Much On The Brink"

From livestock to tree fruit to row crops, ag labor is an issue across farm country. Members of the greater farming community have come together to try an determine a path forward that’s good for everyone involved; the workers, farm owners, managers, etc.

The Ag Wage Reform Coalition gathered earlier this year to urge Congress and federal regulators to make permanent the changes to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate announced in the fall. Enrique Gastelum, CEO of WAFLA, participated in the Coalition gathering.

“Our farming industry is so much on the brink, and so fragile economically, we need wage reform relief," Gastelum noted. "And it's not about trying to get one over on farm workers or, every farmer would love to pay workers $35 an hour, right? But they don't get to set their prices. And so with this new rule that the Department of Labor established, there's many farms that feel like this is going to give them some much needed breathing room to be able to just keep their doors open.”

Photo: April Clayton

Gastelum added the AEWR change has encouraged some farmers that have never looked at the H-2A program to consider implementing it on their operation, especially in light of the ongoing domestic worker shortages the farming community is experiencing.

Gastelum said it’s key that the farming and non-farming communities come together to address the issue of ag labor and wages. He added when a farm goes out of business, the owner suffers as do the workers that have lost their job.

“And many of these jobs are in rural communities, rural economies," Gastelum pointed out. "So, where are the workers going to go work if the farms go away? there's only so many Amazon distribution centers and grocery stores. And so this has a major, major rippling effect throughout our rural communities.”

Gastelum stressed if farms continue to close at the rate they're closing, entire communities will start to disappear.

Photo: Glenn Vaagen

The Ag Wage Reform Coalition includes 36 agricultural organizations across nine states, representing more than 20,000 farmers who employ more than 380,000 H-2A workers nationwide at an annual wage cost exceeding $5 billion.