Agricultural labor is such a critical part of the fresh produce industry — beyond just another “input” — says John Hollay, president and CEO of the National Council of Agricultural Employers. He joined “The Packer Podcast” to give an update on where ag labor sits at the federal level and why both relief from burdensome regulations and federal ag labor reform are necessary.
“What we have right now is an agriculture system, a food system that is rocketing forward into the 21st century and making sure that all farmers come along, but it’s saddled with a labor system essentially that comes from the 1980s,” he says.
Hollay says that Congress and those working in the administration see the challenges that growers face with getting and affording workers as a food security issue.
“It’s not just something that’s an afterthought for the few folks that actually are still engaged in agriculture,” he says.
Hollay says this administration has understood the unique challenges facing the agriculture industry when it comes to labor and has committed to solving those challenges. While Labor Secretary Chavez-DeRemer recently resigned and Keith Sonderling has been named acting secretary, Hollay says he doesn’t see a change in that support with that transition.
Sonderling attended NCAE’s annual meeting to discuss the importance of the interim final rule on the Adverse Effect Wage Rate, which could provide $17 billion in projected relief to growers. Hollay says Sonderling has shown interest in protecting the regulatory investment in ag labor.
“We’re very happy to see Mr. Sonderling in that role and eager to see again the continued work to make sure that the interim final rule gets implemented in the way that it was envisioned and that the rest of the agencies that support the Department of Labor in its work in the H-2A program,” Hollay says.
He adds that the industry awaits the publishing of the final rule to codify the updates to the program to provide some clarity on the rule moving forward.
“We had a program that was broken for so long,” Hollay says. “So, getting a more reasonable wage back in place is something that’s critical.”
He says growers using the H-2A program have questions about this interim final rule and are seeking guidance on how to move forward with the publishing of the final rule.
“It’s really to bring the certainty that our members need as they’re trying to navigate this space,” he says. “[One] of things that the rule did was make it more affordable and more attractive to a lot of folks that haven’t used the H-2A program before.”
Also top of mind for many using the H-2A program is federal-level legislative relief. Hollay says House Ag Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson has indicated a focus on passing the farm bill before working on legislative relief, which will hopefully happen soon. Hollay says it’s critical that some sort of federal reform gets passed to help provide certainty for the future of U.S. agriculture.
“We’ve been operating under the 2018 farm bill and obviously had some fixes in the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill,’ so we know we need that,” Hollay says. “It’s been 40 years since we’ve had a labor fix. … We’ve got to make sure that the employers know that they’re going to have the workers there that can actually help them take advantage of this updated farm policy.”
