This week farmers told the House Ag Committee that labor costs account for anywhere from 40-50% of crop growers’ expenses.
The Trump administration’s recent deportation efforts have sparked concern that those prices could skyrocket, but one California grower says that might not be the case.
According to Ryan Talley, “I had an experience with our crews after Trump got elected. I went around and basically kind of highlighted what his policy was in that he was going to deport criminals, felons— that sort of thing. I personally visited along with our harvesting supervisor and went around to each crew giving the message and the message was actually well received. They actually supported the fact that we wanted to get rid of felons and criminals and the bad actors— sort of thing. And in all honesty, we haven’t missed a day in any of our crews. Even I believe it was a week or two ago, there was kind of a strike, if you will, in our area: a ‘Life in a Day Without an Immigrant Worker.’ Where all crews were encouraged to stay home and we had 100% attendance that day.”
Tally said that in terms of H-2A reform, it all comes down to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate, otherwise known as AEWR.
“My opinion was— listen we need to tap the breaks on the AEWR and it’s becoming economically unviable. I mentioned the fact that each dollar rise in the AEWR for us, personally on our farm, is $1,000,000 in labor costs additionally off our bottom line. So I would definitely be a proponent of freezing that, because if you recall, we’re also in charge, of the house as well as the transportation, and depending on who you talk to, that adds an additional $5-10 an hour on top of AEWR,” he explains.
The H-2A Guest Worker Program does not fall under the jurisdiction of USDA. Lawmakers have pushed bills during the past two sessions to move it from the Department of Labor to Agriculture. That would bring it under House Ag Committee oversight.
