Need For H2-A Workers Demonstrated In New Report

A new report is showing the importance of migrant farmworkers here in the Northwest.  Oregon recorded the biggest increase of H2-A workers in the region from 2017 through 2022.  Idaho and Washington saw increases over the same time period as well.  But by far Washington still attracts the largest number of migrant workers, more than 33,000; many times more than Oregon and Idaho combined for the same time period.

“We see that immigrants play a very vital role in our crop production," said Steve Hubbard, senior data scientist with American Immigration Council, the organization responsible for the report.  "They are important throughout the process, whether it be planting through harvesting our fruits and vegetables, and our food supply, and we need to be thinking about that because we do have lots of imported food and it's increasing the amount of food that we're importing."

Hubbard pointed out H2-A workers are helping to fed America despite working in the high heat of summer.

Click Here to read that report from the American Immigration Council.

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