Without workers, crops go unharvested. And the picture is likely to get worse, many in the industry say. 

What’s the problem?

To be hired to work on a farm or in a packinghouse, job applicants must show identification to prove they are legally qualified to work in the United States. If the documents appear in order, an employer accepts them under the requirements of the government Form I-9. Under the law, if an employer questions documents, he or she can be accused of discrimination.

Legislation proposed in Congress would require all businesses to use the federal E-Verify system to check an individual’s legal standing. E-Verify is managed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and is used by more than 230,000 businesses. E-Verify checks a migrant worker’s Form I-9 against 455 million Social Security records and 80 million DHS records. Critics say the system is flawed and represents government over-reach. What worries farmers is that it could put them out of business because they’ll be unable to hire a workforce to plant and harvest their crops.

Finding domestic workers is often next to impossible, growers say. Americans have been offered farm jobs, and those who accept them rarely last through the week, if not the first day. Foreign-born workers are skilled in agricultural work and have the physical and mental stamina for the workload. And they are willing to engage in work that is seasonal and temporary, moving up the east coast to work on other crops.

“All efforts to pass E-Verify are bad strategy and ignore the impact on domestic food production,” said South Florida vegetable and sugarcane grower Rick Roth. “Fresh vegetable production is highly competitive, and efforts to pass E-Verify on a state-by-state basis will put some producers at an extreme economic disadvantage, and drive producers into other crops or out of business.”

A visa program is available to bring in foreign workers. Can’t growers use it?

Blueberries must be picked as soon as they are ready. H-2A labor doesn't work well for blueberries because of the program's record of bringing workers in weeks later than the requested date, says blueberry grower Bill Braswell.

Producers must predict months in advance how many workers they will need. Making accurate estimates is difficult because so many variables are outside a grower’s control. Factors such as weather and market fluctuations have a marked affect on how many workers an operation needs, and when it will need them.

There are volumes of rules that require a mountain of paperwork. “Our members have tried the H-2A program and it’s only resulted in frustration and litigation,” said Reggie Brown, manager of the Florida Tomato Committee and executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Exchange. “The rules are so complex that when you genuinely attempt to use the program you find that it’s not a practical, functioning program for the tomato industry.”

The wage requirements put growers who use the program at a disadvantage to those who don’t. Under H-2A, an employer must pay a wage (called the Adverse Effect Wage Rate) that is typically higher than the state or federal minimum wage. In Florida, that hourly rate is $9.50 an hour. Florida employers who hire non-H2A workers are only required to pay the state’s minimum wage, $7.31 per hour, which will increase to $7.67 per hour Jan. 1, 2012.

The National Council of Agricultural Employers surveyed farmers who use the H-2A program. Almost half the respondents -- 47 percent -- were “not at all satisfied” or only “slightly satisfied” with the program. Only 14 percent were “very satisfied or “completely satisfied.” Of those who used the system in the past, 42 percent said they would not use it in 2012 because it was “too administratively burdensome or costly.”

Other problems included workers arriving long after they were needed in the fields. “The current program won’t work for blueberries,” said blueberry grower Bill Braswell. “I understand the average H-2A crew is 22 days late. Blueberries can’t go more than three days before a large portion of the crop is lost. A three-day delay would put most farmers in a position where they could not catch up, and most of the crop would be culled,” Braswell said.

In addition, survey respondents said, costly litigation often was necessary to submit an appeal when applications for H-2A workers were denied, usually because of minor errors or inconsistencies in their applications.

The H-2A program was so unsatisfactory that 54 percent of those surveyed had taken the notable step of complaining to their senator or representative about it.

And things could get worse

“E-Verify is a job killer,” said Mike Carlton, FFVA’s director, labor relations. “Hopefully it won’t pass after our federal lawmakers see what happens at the state level. Look at what happened in Georgia if you want to learn what will happen in the rest of the country.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that within weeks of the law being adopted, “farmers reported a shortfall of 11,000 workers, affecting perishable fruit and vegetable producers most of all, according to a survey by Georgia’s agriculture department.”

A study by the University of Georgia Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development showed that the estimated cost to the state’s overall economy will be $391 million this year, including the loss of 3,260 full-time jobs in food production and related businesses. USDA estimates that for every on-farm job another three “downstream” jobs are created.

Legislation in the works

To counter the effects E-Verify would have on agriculture, several alternatives are being offered. U.S. Rep. Dan Lundgren, R-Calif., has said he will propose a new visa category – the “W” immigrant visa for ag workers – that would be a market-based guest-worker program. Employers would tell USDA how many workers they would need each month and yearly. USDA would establish an enrollment process for growers in need of workers and advise the Department of Homeland Security how many visas were needed. Once a worker was admitted to the country, he or she would not be geographically limited, but agree to only work for employers enrolled in the program.

The sponsor of E-Verify in the House, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, also proposed a measure that would take into account agriculture’s unique needs. He recently introduced the American Specialty Agriculture Act that would replace the H-2A visa with a new H-2C visa. Under Smith’s plan, up to half a million foreign farm workers each year could receive the new visa.

“Unlike the H-2A, the “W” visa would not limit workers to one employer,” Carlton said. “That would hurt stability. And the H-2C idea would limit agricultural production by imposing that 500,000 cap on eligible workers. I think a combination of the best of the two bills would be advantageous for agriculture. But Congress might have trouble passing two guest worker programs in this political climate. That’s unfortunate because that optimal combination is what we need.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., also has said she will file a revised version of AgJobs legislation that would call for creating a five-year agriculture guest worker program.

Efforts to get the word out

Save America’s Food and Economy (SAFE) is a national initiative created to support America’s need for a stable and legal farm work force, as well as greater food security, independence over our food supply, and keeping jobs and economic activity in the United States.

The group offers solutions for the right market-based type of legislation needed to achieve those goals on its website, SaveAmericasFood.org. SAFE was launched by the American Coalition of Immigration Reform, to which FFVA belongs. Mike Carlton, FFVA's director of labor relations, serves on ACIR's executive committee.

SAFE addresses the need to recognize in any federal E-Verify legislation the critical role skilled farmworkers play. “Let’s be smart and design a true solution: a coordinated agricultural worker program that provides skilled farmworkers with an agricultural visa, and a better system for future workers. Preserve our farm communities, help our national economic recovery, and keep our food produced by skilled farm workers we can trust,” the website states.

Go to SaveAmericasFood.org and join the effort to preserve our farms, help our economy and keep our food grown right here at home. SAFE held a media awareness day Oct. 27. Here in Florida, growers and industry representatives met with editorial writers at the Tampa Tribune to explain the consequences of mandatory E-Verify on agriculture without an accompanying guest-worker program for farmworkers. The group explained that without a workable solution that would allow growers to legally hire foreign-born workers to plant and harvest crops, agriculture and rural communities would be decimated. They also outlined agriculture's ongoing efforts to work with legislators on a solution.

Producers want to do the right thing, and they want to have access to an adequate workforce to continue feeding America.

“We need a cleaner, simpler guest worker program that would allow workers to participate in the program and allow us the ability to hire and retain workers who have experience in the industry and have developed valuable skills,” said Reggie Brown.

Added Braswell, “The guest worker program we have now, H-2A, can never be fixed in its current overall form to work for blueberries. Our crop and crop window are not conducive to this type of program.”

Further information and updates are provided by the National Council of Agricultural Employers as well as by FFVA in its member newsletter, the FFVA Voice. Those affected by potential E-Verify legislation are urged to sign up on SAFE’s website. The site offers easy tools for people to let their lawmakers know that only a market-based, streamlined guest-worker program will continue to allow our country to produce the variety, quality and quantity of food it demands as well as keep communities and jobs intact.