June 2009

H-2A confusing but necessary for many producers

By Kathy Dixon

Many of Virginia’s agricultural producers could be out of business or forced to downsize if it weren’t for the federal H-2A program that allows foreign citizens to temporarily work on a U.S. farm.

“It would be devastating for us without the H-2A program,” said Jim Saunders, personnel director for Saunders Brothers Inc., a nursery and orchard operation in Nelson County. “People don’t realize how important these foreign workers are to agriculture. I don’t think we can find domestic workers to get us through the season.”

Dana Boyle, who runs Garner’s Produce in Westmoreland County with her husband and her father, agreed.

“If there was no H-2A program, we’d have to downsize tremendously,” she said. “The H-2A program is like insurance for us; it guarantees that we’ll have workers throughout the season.”

Without an adequate labor pool, Saunders explained, “the land that now grows crops may end up growing houses. We’ll either grow on this side of the U.S.-Mexican border, or on that side, because that’s where the labor pool is. I’d rather have our food grown here in the U.S.”

Both Saunders and Boyle have had difficulty finding reliable local help.

When Saunders Brothers wanted to expand a decade ago, they hired 18 local workers between March 1 and June 1. Only one lasted until the end of the season in November, Saunders said. The rest worked an average of three days before quitting.

Boyle said she hired two local workers last year. One worked for three hours before quitting; the other never showed up.

Saunders said his local employees didn’t like planting, potting, fertilizing, pruning, weeding and loading trucks, which is the type of work a nursery and orchard job involves. The 300 greenhouses, 120 acres of apples and 30 acres of peaches are labor-intensive. “When the peaches or apples are ready to be picked, you can’t wait,” he said.

So Saunders and three of his brothers, who run the business with their father, “had a pow-wow and decided to give the H-2A program a try.”

The program was started in 1986 to allow farmers to hire legal, temporary foreign workers.
“That solved our problem,” Saunders said. “We get a good, reliable, stable work force.” This year, all of the 42 H-2A workers at Saunders Brothers have worked on the farm before.
“I have three guys who have worked here every year for the past 10 years,” Saunders said.
Boyle has been hiring H-2A workers for seven years, and one of her four workers has been on the farm every year. Two of the others are his brothers, and the fourth this year is their brother-in-law.

Since the H-2A program was created, the U.S. Department of Labor has repeatedly revised the rules, which confuses farmers who use the program. In March, the DOL announced it was going to suspend Jan. 17 rules that would make the program better for farmers.

After a 10-day comment period during which the department received 800 responses, the DOL published an interim final rule extending the transition from old regulations to the Jan. 17 regulations from this April until Jan. 1, 2010.

“The interim final rule didn’t substantially change the final rule issued in December, but it didn’t specifically address the question of suspension either,” said Ron Gaskill, senior director of Congressional relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation. “It’s very possible” that the DOL could issue a final rule that would suspend the changes to the regulations, Gaskill added.

“It’s a confusing program to begin with, and now the DOL is going out of its way to further confuse an already-confusing program,” said Wilmer Stoneman, associate director of governmental relations for the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation. “It’s not fair to the growers.”

Tobacco, fruit and vegetable growers and nursery operators are all affected by changes to foreign worker programs.

“Any farming that requires a lot of hand work is very much dependent on H-2A workers,” Stoneman said.

Saunders said the changes, if not suspended, “will be very beneficial to agriculture.”

Changes include allowing H-2A workers to change employers when both employers qualify for H-2A; extending from 10 days to 30 the time after a growing season by which a worker must return to his or her home country; prohibiting employers and recruiters from imposing fees on H-2A workers; and allowing employers to apply for multiple agricultural workers.