May 10, 2011 -- BRATTLEBORO -- Vermont’s congressional delegation is sponsoring companion bills to expand a visa program to allow struggling dairy farmers more access to foreign workers.
U.S. Reps. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and William Owens, D-N.Y., introduced legislation last week to provide dairy farmers the opportunity to utilize the H-2A workforce program, which currently gives other agricultural sectors the ability to hire foreign workers.
The H-2A Improvement Act of 2011 gives foreign dairy workers, along with sheep and goat herders, access to the visa program when domestic employment is unavailable.
Welch said the measure will remove an obstacle for dairy farms seeking an adequate supply of labor.
“Vermont’s dairy farmers are hanging on by their fingernails. Every day they struggle with multiple challenges to survival, including high energy costs, unstable milk prices and a shortage of workers,” he said.
The U.S. Department of Labor issued rules excluding the dairy industry from the agricultural worker visa program in 2010. Sheep and goat herders currently have access to H-2A, but the proposed bill would make it permanent.
While more local workers are seeking employment in a lackluster economy, dairy farming remains a dirty job requiring long hours and a fair share of physical labor.
“The difficulty we have currently is finding folks who would like to work on dairyfarms, and many of our farmers currently advertise in the newspapers and every outlet available to them to get workers in. American workers are not generally available,” said Tim Buskey, administrator of the Vermont Farm Bureau. “We are very supportive of legislation that would allow folks to come into the country and to be documented and certified so that we can hire them on dairyfarms, especially in Vermont.”
Mike Barrett of Stoneholm Farm in Putney called the program “very positive” because it would provide his operation with access to an annual workforce when local people are not interested in the jobs.
“I think it’s becoming increasingly more difficult in this country to find people who want to milk cows. It’s a real struggle and we have a workforce here that wants to do it, wants to work,” Barrett said.
With roughly 420 milk cows in Vermont and another 300 in their Walpole, N.H., operation, Barrett said expanding this visa program offers a safe way to bring workers to farms and to ensure their immigration status is legitimate.
Stoneholm pays foreign workers “the same as anyone else,” according to Barrett. They currently have about 18 full-time and six part-time employees, with a few foreign workers annually at any given time.
“I think one of the misconceptions about [foreign workers] is that they want to come live here, and most of them don’t. They just want to come work for a year or two and go home. And this would allow us the ability to hire these people who want to do the work,” Barrett added. “We’re dealing with people who want to come here and work, we’re not talking about the border people who are smuggling drugs across the border.”
Along with the House bill, Vermont Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders have sponsored a bipartisan version in the Senate.
According to Leahy, the Senate bill authorizes workers to enter the country for an initial period of three years and gives U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services the authority to approve another three years once complete of the first round of labor.
After the initial three-year period, workers may petition to become a lawful and permanent citizen as well.
“As a senator from a state that prides itself on its dairy products and a long tradition of family farming, it is unacceptable that dairyfarmers are put in a position of choosing between their livelihoods and taking risks with a potential employee’s immigration status,” said Leahy, a six-term Democrat.
“I strongly believe that the vast majority of dairy farmers want to hire a lawful workforce, and our policy should support these goals,” he added. “The denial of access to lawful, willing agricultural workers places a substantial burden on employers.”
The Vermont Workers’ Center estimates there are as many as 2,000 undocumented agricultural laborers in the state.
“From a workers’ rights standpoint, they are the most vulnerable workers,” said WRC director James Haslam. The center has integrated a new movement called the Vermont Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project to promote human rights for foreign workers in the state.
Back in Washington, D.C., Democrats from New York and Wisconsin have co-sponsored Leahy’s legislation, which was introduce in mid-April. Wyoming Republican Sen. Michael Enzi has also signed on to the bill, saying agricultural operations often require very skilled labor that oftentimes is not found at a local level.
“That is exactly why a ‘one size fits all’ immigration policy for agriculture simply doesn’t work,” Enzi said. “This change will bring a personalized fit to sheepherders and dairyfarmers that is long overdue.
The state Agency of Agriculture is supportive of the legislation on Capitol Hill.
Agency Secretary Chuck Ross said the dairy industry is a critical component of Vermont’s economy and the shortage of domestic labor is “particularly acute” for farmers requiring year-round employees.
“Even in a down economy, it has been a challenge for our dairyfarmers to find sustainable labor sources. The H-2A program would provide a resource for dairyfarmers to procure the assistance they need to keep their farms running,” Ross said.
Although the proposed change to the H-2A program has received the backing from many in the dairy industry, others have little use for the expansion.
Dennis Kauppila, regional farm business management specialist with the University of Vermont Extension, has heard farmers call for foreign labor, but others favor local hirings.
“It’s a confusing situation. I know larger farms that prefer to use locals. There’s a cost advantage to using undocumented workers, but it’s not keeping your money local,” he said.
Peter Miller, who has managed the Miller Farm in Vernon for more than a decade, has an organic dairy operation of 130 Holsteins and found local labor able and willing to work the long hours.
“Smaller farms tend to use domestic labor rather than imported labor. And so it’s kind of like a ‘buy local’ thing, ‘hire local’ thing,” he said. “Most of the small farms actually keep their money here, but you figure all the wages that go internationally, it’s astounding.”
Organic milking operations tend to produce more financial security, giving the farmer more leeway to hire domestically instead of potentially having to question the immigration status on foreign workers, Miller added.
Buskey said Vermont farmers would like to keep the money in the local economy, but it is not feasible to seek only local laborers.
“However at this point in time, I don’t believe dairyfarmers are going to be looking specifically for local workers first. It’s nice if they come along, and they’ll have an opportunity to get the jobs,” he said.
The H-2A program established a means for agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers an opportunity to bring non-immigrant foreign workers into the country to perform labor or services of a temporary nature. Any agricultural business interested in the program must file an application with Immigration Services stating there is not sufficient local employees able and willing to perform the services, and the assistance from foreign help will not adversely affect wages and conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.
The employers also must continue to engage in “positive recruitment” of domestic workers even after acceptance into the H-2A program.
Chris Garofolo can be reached at cgarofolo@reformer.com or 802-254-2311 ext. 275.
