Agricultural Department analyzes H-2A proposal

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Agricultural Department analyzes H-2A proposal

The American Farm Bureau and others are concerned about the proposed amendments to the Labor Ministry rules for the H-2A program.

According to the Department of Agriculture, this change will lead to higher wages than the Ministry of Labor expects, will increase the burden of farm management, and adversely affect high-paying jobs such as agricultural supervisors.

Sarah Black, general manager of Great Lakes Ag Labor Services, an ag labor agency at the Michigan Department of Agriculture, told Brownfield that the proposed rules would affect overall farm labor rates, regardless of the use of the H-2A program. rice field.

“We really need to speak out and provide a practical example of what this means if it moves forward,” she says.

The AFBF states that one of the significant impacts on the farm is the proposed changes to workers who do multiple types of work on the farm. For example, if a worker spends most of the day harvesting vegetables, but the time it takes to move the truck from row to row is short, the proposal is more for the truck driver for all the work done. You need to pay employees a high average effect wage rate. According to the Department of Agriculture, this will increase the cost of each worker from $ 13.00 an hour to a negative wage rate of $ 13.00 per hour to $ 36.00 per hour, depending on what the employee is working on.

Written comments on proposed changes are due January 31st^st..

In our interview, hear more from Black about H-2A’s concerns.