Farm Workforce Modernization Act

As lawmakers start a new year in Washington D.C., one of the biggest questions the farming community is hoping to see addressed revolves around Ag labor and immigration reform. Dan Newhouse, coauthor of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, said despite passing the House, the legislation has stalled in the Senate, primarily because President Biden’s Build Back Better contains some provisions to a

This was a difficult year for local asparagus growers not just because of the weather. The biggest challenge was a lack of labor to pick and process their fields, hurting yields and quality. Executive Director of the Washington Asparagus Commission Alan Schreiber ...

With so many issues being addressed in D.C., some in farm county may feel like agricultural needs are not being addressed. However, Dan Newhouse says one of the biggest issues facing today’s farmer is getting more and more attention: Farm Labor. The ...

Bipartisan support for farm labor immigration reform ran headlong into a host of Republican complaints that the southern border must first secured during a Senate Judiciary hearing Wednesday. While both Democrats and Republicans agree that the decades-old problem must be addressed and fixed, how and in what order to do that remains a point of contention ...

The Farm Workforce Modernization Act recently passed recently by the House of Representatives would give dairy farmers much needed greater access to foreign labor. The National Milk Producers Federation's Chris Galen said House passage of the bill provides momentum towards addressing dairy’s labor needs. ...

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 re

Late last week, the House passed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act by a 247-174 vote. The legislation, sponsored by Central Washington’s Dan Newhouse and California’s Zoe Lofgren gives farmworkers in the United States without legal documents a way to gain legal status, as well as reforms the H-2A program and establishes a mandatory, nationwide E-verify system for Ag employment. Newhouse ...

On Wednesday Central Washington's Dan Newhouse and California's Zoe Lofgren reintroduced the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. The lawmakers says the bipartisan bill, which passed the House during last year’s Congress, aims to ensure a legal, reliable workforce for America’s farmers and ranchers. Among other pr ...

Once COVID-19 is no longer the top issue for lawmakers in D.C., Central Washington’s Dan Newhouse said he would like to see efforts focus on meaningful Ag labor reform. He noted as 2020 comes to an end, he and others have been meeting, discussing strategy to ensure they are ready to promote the Farm Workforce Modernization Act as soon as possible in the 117th Congress. “ ...

So much of the attention in D.C., and on many farms across the country, is financial assistance to get farmers through the coronavirus pandemic, now roughly eight months old. But, Central Washington’s Dan Newhouse says it’s not enough for lawmakers to look at the present, but they much look to the future; a life after COVID-19. And to do ...