NMPF: COVID Has Highlighted the Need for The Farm Workforce Modernization Act

With the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, moving over to the Senate, many in the ag community are hopeful the legislation will be approved and move on to President Biden’s desk for his signature. Claudia Larson, Senior Director of Government Relations at the National Milk Producers Federation, said thanks to the pandemic, agriculture is facing different circumstances than when the immigration reform bill was first introduced in 2019.

"We have seen COVID exasperate the labor crisis that agriculture was already facing. We are seeing fewer domestic workers available to be referred to our farms so actually the labor crisis has been intensified in this COVID reality.”

Larson added there is also a more broad and bipartisan appetite for immigration reform in the current climate.

"We have the urgency and need for ag labor reform now more than ever because of the COVID reality and this potential for a bipartisan ag labor reform bill to move through the House, make it over to the Senate and seize this window of opportunity.”

The Farm Workforce Modernization Act was approved with a 247-174 vote on Thursday. Supporters of the legislation are more confident the Senate will take up the legislation this go-around.

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