Finding adequate labor for agriculture may be the biggest challenge facing farmers today. Will the new administration help find answers? Chuck Conner, president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, says it’s a problem everyone recognizes.
“Whether it’s tax, farm bill, you name it, you know, sometimes you have some outliers. In the case of labor, 100 percent of American agriculture here is behind us to try and get this problem fixed.”
And that, Conner says, is what it will take.
“When you’ve got that kind of unity on our farms and ranches, that’s a powerful political voice. Always has been in Washington. Has not changed.”
And in an election year…
“You know, we have a new Congress, a new President coming in, and I think there’s going to be a case to make a strong, if you want to be for the farmer, want to be for the rancher, this is what you’ve got to do, and that’s the source of my optimism.”
But what about foreign-born ag workers and their possible deportation?
“I don’t know of any consumers, I don’t know of any politicians in America today who wouldn’t say we ought to grow as much of our own food here in America as we possibly can. That would be just a 100 percent vote out there. The only way that that happens is if we are able to meet those labor needs with foreign-born workers.”