When US farmers are unable to find the labor they need, the federal ‘H2A visa program’ allows them to bring in workers from foreign countries. The visas are costly and the process is time-consuming, yet the number of visas granted continues to climb.
For more than 100 years and five generations, Bruce Talbott’s family has grown mostly peaches. But he’s diversified, he said, because in the early 2000s, that pool of labor began drying up. Now, he grows peaches, grapes, cherries and pears, all of which ripen at different points in the season: “There’s not a labor pool that would allow us to pick that volume of fruit all at once.”
Across the country, farmers have voiced concerns over what they say is a growing labor shortage. While there are about 2.7 million agricultural workers in the U.S. - about half undocumented immigrants - farmers say finding reliable local workers has become increasingly difficult, especially for hand-picked fruit and vegetable crops.
That’s why an increasing number are turning to the federal H-2A visa program, which allows farmers to bring in workers temporarily from foreign countries. In the 2018 fiscal year, more than 240,000 H-2A visas were granted: a record and a 21 percent increase from about a year ago.
New H-2A applicants are selected at random by U.S. employers. After working in the U.S. for a season, that farmer can choose to invite the worker back.
Netnebraska.org explains how the program isn’t cheap: Employers are required to provide housing, travel and pay the adverse effect wage, an hourly rate that's slightly higher than the regional minimum wage. Estimates range from $1,000 to $2,000 a worker, so that’s why farmers like Talbott have learned to bring workers in earlier in the season and keep them until late fall.