The H-2A visa program for farmworkers needs to be modernized, said the leaders of a working group composed of one third of the members of the House Agriculture Committee on Tuesday. An interim report by the working group said growers turn to the H-2A visa as a last resort because of its “high costs and regulatory complexities,” and that agricultural labor is increasingly difficult to find.
“We must ensure there is a viable, affordable, and easy-to-use alternative to the lack of a domestic workforce, which is undoubtedly found with the H–2A program,” said the interim report. Arkansas Rep. Rick Crawford, the Republican co-chair of the working group, said “it is becoming clear that our agricultural visa policies are in desperate need of reforms.” The Democratic co-chair, Rep. Don Davis of North Carolina, said he would work with Crawford to produce a final report “that brings forward bipartisan solutions.”
Recent legislative efforts to modernize the guestworker program, run by the Labor Department, have included creation of legal status for undocumented farmworkers, who may account for half of the farm workforce. Congressional Republicans generally opposed that approach.
The interim report is available here.