At the National Association of Farm Broadcasters Convention, Farm Director KC Sheperd caught up with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture’s (NASDA) Senior Director of Public Policy, RJ Karney, to discuss H-2A reform and the crisis in ag labor.
“The ag labor discussion has been one of the top, if not the top, priority amongst all of the agricultural industry for the past one or two decades,” Karney stated. “If we don’t have H-2A reform, there will be economic and supply chain impacts.”
He said broadening H-2A reform to include industries that aren’t currently eligible to participate is the focus of NASDA. Specifically, the livestock and dairy industries that require year-round laborers.
“Agriculture is currently unified in telling members of Congress and President-Elect Trump as he is coming into office that we have a workable solution, and we would like to see that addressed,” Karney added.
More than seventy percent of rural America went to the polls to vote for President-Elect Trump so Karney believes they should have a welcoming audience ready to hear this issue.
“We have a story to tell,” he said. “Since we are unified in finding a legal workforce for farmers and ranchers to utilize, I think we have a strong story with this incoming administration.”
Karney and Sheperd went on to discuss Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Blayne Arthur’s lasting impact on NASDA as well as NASDA’s feelings about unionizing the farm workforce. Click the listen bar at the top of the page to hear the complete conversation.
