RHINEBECK – Congressman John Faso (R, Kinderhook) is co-sponsoring legislation that would help farmers get the necessary workers from out of the country if necessary.
He made the announcement at Thursday’s 2018 Dutchess County Agricultural Advisory Committee forum held at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds.
House of Representatives Resolution 6417 known as the Agricultural Guest Worker Act seeks to address the workforce shortage in the United States agricultural markets.
It is designed to create an immigrant work visa program specifically for agricultural workers. According to Faso, there are three million illegal farm workers in the United States and it is a practice that has been going on for decades.
With the recent immigration crackdowns, the congressman said American farmers are having trouble finding workers that are desperately needed.
“This is critical for our agriculture industry. It is also critical for us in the Hudson Valley, because we are not going to have the workers to harvest our crops and milk our cows unless we do something about the migrant labor issue,” Faso told the advisory panel.
The bill would allow migrant workers classified as H-2C to work in the United States for a maximum of 36 months continuously before having to leave the country for a period of 60 days before they can reapply to work in the United States.
