Farmers need seasonal workers — and an immigration solution

Agricultural labor is not just an issue for farmers. For every job on the farm, there are two to three more supported in transportation, food processing, equipment and supply manufacturing, sales and marketing, and other fields beyond rural farm communities. The ongoing shortage of available seasonal farm labor and the uncertainty related to the legal status of the existing workforce has prompted many growers to attempt to use a federal temporary guest-worker visa program for agriculture, known as H-2A. Such a decision is not taken lightly, as the program is extremely complex and requires verification that domestic workers are not available. Employers must also cover the cost of transporting the employees, provide housing and pay wages substantially above the prevailing rates for comparable work. That the use of the program in Washington has expanded from 814 jobs filled in 2006 to 13,697 jobs in 2016 despite these disadvantages is further proof of the acute shortage of farm labor.