NY Farm Bureau Commends Rep. GT Thompson's 'Securing Agriculture's Workforce Act'

NY Farm Bureau Commends Rep. GT Thompson's 'Securing Agriculture's Workforce Act'

Legislation would provide critical changes to H-2A program

Washington, D.C. - Representative GT Thompson (R-PA) today introduced the Securing Agriculture's Workforce Act (SAWA), legislation that would provide critical changes to the H-2A guest worker program. Original cosponsors of the bill include Representative Claudia Tenney (R, NY-24), Representative Nicholas Langworthy (R, NY-23) and Representative Josh Riley (D, NY-19).

"New York Farm Bureau (NYFB) commends Rep. Thompson and the bill's cosponsors for their leadership in addressing one of the largest concerns facing New York farmers - the shortage and rising cost of farm labor," said NYFB President David Fisher. "These changes to the H-2A program will make a huge difference in our farms' ability to hire workers for longer periods of time while improving efficiencies across the board."

Key elements of changes to the H-2A program are:

1. Controls Labor Costs

• Requires the H-2A wage to be the highest of a) a collective bargaining agreement; b), the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR); or c) a federal, state or local minimum wage.
• Limits AEWR wage rate fluctuations year-over-year to not exceed a 3.5% increase or a 1.5% decrease.

2. Expands Access

• Clarifies the length of "temporary" in a job contract to a maximum of 350 days, allowing more farmers to utilize the program.
• Expands the eligibility of services for the program to include aquaculture, the harvest of livestock, and forestry, among others.

3. Streamlines the Program

• Creates an online platform as a single point of access among employers, employees and relevant agencies.
• Clarifies the roles of the various federal agencies involved with the program to prevent duplicative work and to create consistent implementation policies and procedures.

"These changes to the H-2A program are long overdue. As a state that is home to a wide variety of agricultural commodities, many of which require significant labor needs, New York must have access to a reliable agricultural workforce," Fisher said.

In related news, NYFB Board of Directors member Ryan Akin has been in Washington, D.C. this week at a fly-in event coordinated by American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). Akin, who has been advocating for SAWA legislation on behalf of NYFB, attended a press conference with other farmers from across the country. He is a member of the AFBF Labor Issue Advisory Committee and was selected by AFBF to attend the fly-in and share his perspective as a dairy farmer.

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New York Farm Bureau is the state's largest general agricultural advocacy organization. Its members and the public know the organization as "The Voice of New York Agriculture." New York Farm Bureau is dedicated to solving the economic and public policy issues challenging the agricultural community.

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