It’s no secret that finding adequate, affordable ag labor is a huge challenge for farmers, especially in recent years.
Washington Representative Dan Newhouse, a farmer himself, says it’s a big problem in the Northwest and across the country. Farmers are always looking for help, no matter where they’re from.
“We have a lot of specialty crops in Washington state and, you know, when those cherries are ready, or those apples are ready, or the hops, you gotta pick them. They won’t wait for anybody, and if you don’t have the people there to help you do it?”
And it’s not as simple, Newhouse says, as just paying more.
“There’s a certain number of people that tell me that, as farm work employers, we just have to pay more or we just have to, you know, be more aggressive at finding Americans who need those jobs and, we all know that those jobs are available, but we are not seeing anybody, or very few people, that are coming forward and wanting them.”
For those who think foreign guest workers are stealing jobs.
“People that have that kind of opinion exist, but I gotta say that the number of people that believe that is much less than it used to be.”
Because the word is getting out.
“I gotta give a lot of credit to the producers around the country who are contacting their members of Congress and their Senators and talking to them about what’s really happening, what they’re facing in real life, and that’s been very effective.”