Senate negotiating version of House bill that would save Iowa farmers $37.4 million in two years, according to the Cato Institute
“Our family would love to see our business continue for another generation. But our biggest concern is whether we will have a workforce in the future. Right now, it’s so unsure that we don’t know year to year if we’ll have one. How can we run a business if we don’t know whether we’ll have workers?”—Tom Hughes, President of Hughes Nursery & Landscaping, member, AmericanHort
Watch Livestream: HERE
CEDAR RAPIDS, IA – This morning at Hughes Nursery & Landscaping, the American Business Immigration Coalition Action (ABIC Action), AmericanHort, the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives and International Fresh Produce Association convened Iowa farm and business leaders for a press event and roundtable entitled “Strengthen American Food Security, Lower Food Prices, Support Rural Communities: Common Sense Solutions to Iowa‘s Farm Labor Shortage.”
The event was the latest in an ongoing farm tour organized by the American Business Immigration Coalition Action that has already hit Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Maine, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Ohio, Utah, North Carolina, Texas, Indiana and D.C.
With Senate negotiations ongoing, the event called attention to the urgency of fixing Iowa’s and the nation’s farm workforce crisis by passing new Senate agriculture workforce solutions.
Said Bill Northey, CEO of the Agribusiness Association of Iowa: “The impact of the ag labor shortage is that some of our members who have great business opportunities are not taking advantage of them because they’re afraid they are not going to have the employment. They are even asking themselves, ‘What am I currently doing that I can cut back on?’, because they only have enough labor to do a portion of what they could do.”
He continued: “As we have shortages of some of the products, whether it’s corn and soybeans or beef, pork, dairy and eggs, when you have that shortfall, you see inflation, which is certainly being felt by all Americans currently.”
“Our family would love to see our business continue on for another generation,” said Tom Hughes, President of Hughes Nursery & Landscaping. “But our biggest concern right now whether we will have a workforce in the future to continue our business. Growers and their employees need and deserve a system that provides long-term stability. Right now, our workforce is so unsure that we do not know year to year if we will have a workforce. How can we run a business if we don’t know if we will have workers?”
Said Enrique Sanchez, Intermountain State Director for ABIC: “The Farm Workforce Modernization Act (FWMA) passed twice in the House of Representatives with bipartisan support is a good start. Now the Senate needs to improve upon it and carry the legislation over the finish line at once. This is dire. The USDA has said that next year, the U.S. will be important more food than it exports. That is not good. A nation that cannot feed itself is not secure.”
“Fifty-one percent of the food dollar in this country is spent in the restaurant industry,” said Jessica Dunker, President and CEO, Iowa Restaurant Association. “The only way people can spend that 51% is if food comes to us so that we can prepare it, sell it, and serve it. Ag workforce solutions for the restaurant industry means that we get the products that we need at prices that we can afford…We absolutely have to have solutions that allow us to have food in our state grown, picked and delivered to us so that we can feed people.”
Said Karen Labenz of Dole Fresh Vegetables: “Our growers do not have enough workers to harvest this year’s crop or plant next year’s. Our retailers do not know how much product they will have to sell…A top priority for our elected officials should be to provide healthy and affordable food for the American people. I respectfully ask our Iowa Senators Ernst and Grassley to support this bipartisan effort led by Senators Bennet and Crapo. Growers, consumers, and companies like Dole Fresh Vegetables cannot wait any longer to address this urgent issue.”
Said Yer Vang of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Dubuque: “I am here today to encourage our legislators to have the courage to do the right thing for our country and particularly for Iowans. We have heard today why the agriculture workforce is so important to shore up. The Catholic Church teaches us that the dignity of work and the rights of workers are significant underpinnings to why we want to create hope for all humans…particularly those who are willing to come to our country and engage in the back-breaking work that is needed.”
Said Renee Hansen, external relations manager, Sukup Manufacturing: “We have 750 employees throughout Iowa…at the beginning of June 2022, we were trying to fill 120 positions. Immigration is how this country’s population is growing. It is how Iowa’s population is growing…For the farmers of Sukup and our dealers, they are also experiencing a shrinking labor pool and the cost of hiring through the H-2A program is expensive…and the timeline that it takes to hire these people is too long.”
Said Carla Elliot, VP of HR for Innovative Ag Services: “This labor shortage is impacting many industries, but for us, it’s jeopardizing our food security—and the result is rising food costs. We cannot keep delivering the quality service and products that our customers rely on if we allow this to continue. We need our representatives to come together, collaborate, compromise and get a positive conclusion on this bill. This can fix the labor situation and create a positive outcome for all involved. We need solutions now.”
Also speaking was Shirley Peckosh, a retired greenhouse owner and member of AmericanHort: “We all shared common experiences of food shortages during the COVID crisis, we know the war in Ukraine is impacting global food supplies and we have the USDA report that shows the U.S. will be net importers of agricultural goods next year,” she said. “That is astounding. This is the United States with the richest farm ground and the smartest and most talented growers—and we will be dependent on others for food to feed our citizens? We need to grow our food in our country, and we need to do it legally.”
Background
In 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act with bipartisan support. That was a good start, and now in the Senate, Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Mike Bennet (D-CO) have taken the lead on negotiating improvements on the House’s solutions and moving the process forward. Passing new Senate legislation is critical to solving labor shortages facing the Iowa agriculture sector and sustaining the state’s economy as a whole.
According to a new Cato Institute report, the House-passed Farm Workforce Modernization Act would “would reduce labor costs for H-2A farms by about $1 billion in the first year and $1.8 billion in the second, which would result in many more workers being hired, more productivity, and lower prices for consumers.” For Iowa farmers, this would amount to $37.4 million in savings over two years (see report).
Additionally, a report from New American Economy indicates that Iowa’s immigrants make up 5.6% percent of the total population, pay $1.6 billion in taxes annually, have $4.3 billion in spending power and make up 41% of the state’s animal slaughtering and processing jobs, 19% of animal production and aquaculture jobs and 20% of other agricultural jobs. Iowa farmers desperately need a stable, year-round workforce—dairy farms, for example, are currently excluded from the H-2A program and cows must be milked 365 days a year.
On the national level, Texas A&M International University released data from a new economic study on the link between stabilizing the agricultural workforce and decreasing inflation and consumer prices, showing that ensuring farmers have a stable, secure, reliable, and legal workforce is crucial to keeping America’s grocery shelves stocked, combating inflation, and lowering food prices (including milk, eggs, meat, and produce) for all domestic consumers.
Addressing workforce shortages facing farm employers and stabilizing the H-2A visa application process is also crucial for enhancing our national food security by protecting domestic agriculture production. According to the USDA, next year, for the first time in U.S. history, we as a country will be importing more agricultural goods than we export.
ABOUT
ABIC Action is the political arm of the American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC), a bipartisan coalition of over 1,200+ CEOs, business owners, and trade associations across 17 mostly red and purple states. ABIC Action promotes common sense immigration reform that advances economic competitiveness, provides companies with both the high-skilled and low-skilled talent they need, and allows the integration of immigrants into our economy as consumers, workers, entrepreneurs, and citizens.