Tag Archives: labor

Uncertainty for Producers Relying on Guest Workers

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Tifton, GA |

Down in Tifton recently, producers gathered for the annual Agricultural Relations Forum – an event that’s designed to educate and inform growers on the ever so changing guest worker programs producers utilize on their operations. The importance of the event can’t be overstated as it comes at a time when producers have been burdened with frequent, drastic changes to the program so many of them rely on.

“The biggest factor that drives the need for this event is the ever changing regulatory environment that we find ourselves in. For a grower that is focused on growing a healthy crop, keeping up with six hundred pages of regulations and new rules is a challenge. So, if we can synopsis that into two days and again, let them have the information so that they are compliant, so that they know they’re operating their farm the way that the rules stipulate, but also the way they want to be able to operate and treat their employees who come back year after year and become part of their families,” says Chris Butts, Executive Vice President of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Grower’s Association.

In the last few years, growers that utilize the program have had to adapt to sudden changes; changes that have caused a lot of uncertainty – the biggest being the wage rate, which has increased more than twenty percent in just two years – a huge hurdle for producers, especially when that rate could change at any time.

“One of the biggest factors influencing the effectiveness of the program is what we call the adverse effect wage rate. And that becomes, in effect, a de facto minimum wage rate for all AG work in your area. That rate that can be increased, at any time during the year. The last few years, we’ve had a twenty-one percent increase in ’23 and ’24. That comes after the fact that our growers may have already had contracts to provide produce to their suppliers. So, that uncertainty comes in with ‘I can’t identify what my labor costs are going to be next year because I don’t know what the pay rate is going to be'”, says Butts.

More uncertainty comes for producers as a lawsuit has been brought forth that is challenging the overreach and unfairness in the many burdensome and unfair rules and regulations the Department of Labor has issued.

“The latest rules we feel were an overreach by the Department of Labor outstripping the authority granted to them by Congress. And in fact, they’re conveying rights to foreign ag workers in the country that even U.S. citizen workers don’t receive. The pay rate is now twice in Georgia what the minimum wage is. Those pay rates become disassociated from really the economic realities in our rural communities, but because of the rules, that becomes the de facto wage rate. And we are now paying a wage rate that’s oftentimes twice what other industries in that area are paying. That leaves us uncompetitive with our foreign competitors and susceptible to seeing more of our food supply come from other countries,” says Butts.

Ultimately, Butts says that the rules and regulations have been changing in a way that has left growers at a very unfair advantage, especially when you add in all of the many other challenges that they’re dealing with.

“We find ourselves at the intersection of trade policy and labor policy that is leaving our growers uncompetitive, or at a competitive disadvantage to foreign competitors. For food security, we’ve got to make sure that American growers have a future and growing fruits and vegetables in the U.S the sustainable,” says Butts.

By: John Holcomb

Will a New Farm Bill Bring Relief to Producers?

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Washington, D.C. |

Each and every day, farmers and producers continue to struggle as input prices, regulatory burdens, and overall costs of production continue to rise. Couple that with uncertain weather and markets, and it’s no doubt been a challenging time for producers across the country. That’s of course why a new Farm Bill passage is so imperative. The good news is that there has been movement on a bill, but the process of getting it to the President’s desk will most certainly be a challenge as the majority of the more than one trillion-dollar bill isn’t designated for production ag.

“One of the challenges with getting the farm bill adopted is that SNAP and other nutritional benefits now consume, no pun intended, over eighty percent of total farm bill spending, which means that less than ten percent of what we call the farm bill is going into ARC, PLC, and the other risk mitigation tools that our farmers depend on. So, as we write the bill, we have a total dollar figure that we can spend on the bill, and as the snap portion, the food portion of the bill has become larger and larger over time, that has driven down what is available for production agriculture,” says Representative Austin Scott, from Georgia’s 8th District.

However, for Scott, that’s why getting updated reference prices is a priority, as he says producers have a high risk due to the increased costs associated with production, which constitutes better protections.

“Without that increase in reference prices and loan values, our farmers simply would not have the risk mitigation tools that they need to cover their operations if you have a commodity price collapse. So that’s one of our big concerns for the bill and as we push it forward, making sure that with the increased cost of production, our farmers have those stop losses in place, that keep them growing the crops next year. So we’re focused very much on the production ag, the commercial production ag, the tons of food that we need in this country, so that we’re able to walk in the grocery store and buy the food that candidly, we’ve become a little bit spoiled with in this country,” says Scott.

Another major issue producers are facing are increases in farm labor, as hourly wages and fees associated with guest worker programs have risen year after year, something Scott says is a big burden as producers can’t prepare for such drastic, unexpected increases in costs and is something that needs addressing at the congressional level.

“People expect reasonable increases in the rates, but when they come back with twenty percent and then tag it with another twenty percent, those aren’t the exact percentages, but you understand what I’m getting at, you can’t make those adjustments in your business. So on one hand, the USDA and other government agencies complain that while the size of the farm is getting larger and larger and larger, and on the other hand, they continue to adopt policies that drive the small farmer out of business. So, I think you will see um, the wage rate addressed,” says Scott.

By: John Holcomb