The steering committee for the Agriculture Workforce Coalition, a broad-based coalition of ag groups seeking meaningful, long-term labor reform, unanimously elected American Farm Bureau Federation president Zippy Duvall and Western Growers president and CEO Dave Puglia as the new co-chairs of the coalition, the group announced Nov. 19.
The pair succeed Chuck Conner, who retired earlier this year as CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives.
“I’m humbled to be asked to serve as co-chair for the Ag Workforce Coalition,” Duvall says. “Chuck Conner helped bring agriculture together to make the AWC into the leading voice on agricultural labor policy in Washington, and we look forward to building on that foundation as we press for practical, bipartisan solutions to address the workforce crisis facing our family farms.”
“I’m honored to have been selected by peers to serve as co-chair of the Agriculture Workforce Coalition alongside Zippy Duvall,” Puglia says.
“American agriculture, although a resilient industry, continues to face mounting pressures that cannot be economically sustained. Chief among these is the chronic and worsening labor situation. No one wants to see more American food production forced to shift to foreign countries, but that is one of the consequences of the failure of Congress to confront this crisis,” he adds.
“As a coalition, we have worked to secure important recent improvements to ag labor programs through regulation, but now more than ever we must work together to persuade Congress to pass legislation that will stabilize and protect the sustainability of America’s farmers and ranchers in every region,” Puglia continues. “I know Zippy is fully committed to this objective as well, and I am grateful that he has stepped forward to lead this important coalition.”
The coalition says it, the new co-chairs and AWC will continue to work for:
- A workable, market-based guestworker program that reflects the year-round and seasonal needs of U.S. agriculture.
- Reforms to wage and regulatory requirements that protect workers while ensuring the continued viability of farm and ranch operations.
- A fair, practical process to provide stability and certainty for experienced farmworkers already contributing to U.S. agriculture.
