Agribusiness Up to its Old Tricks; Demands Special Treatment from Congress

By Joe Guzzardi
August 1, 2011

One of the most hotly disputed provisions of House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith’s H.R. 2164, the Legal Workforce Act, is how to treat agricultural workers. Smith’s bill calls for mandatory E-Verify to confirm newly hired employees’ legal status. That creates concern among agribusiness leaders that their workforce, which they admit is comprised largely of illegal immigrants, would be devastated.

In his recent Roll Call op-ed titled “Worker Visa is a Must for E-Verify Plan,” Richard G. Schmidt, president and CEO of the Irvine, CA-based United Agribusiness League urged Congress to add an amendment that would extend a special five-year visa to agricultural workers. According to Schmidt without the extension, ideally part of a broader comprehensive immigration reform package, “The economic effect on California’s largest industry could be devastating.”

Agribusiness spokesmen have turned up the heat on Smith and insist that his bill could cripple the $390 billion industry.

Growers are adamant that Americans are unwilling to do field work regardless of how high unemployment may be. And they’re using their favorite fall back threat to influence Congress—that unless more immigrant labor can be found immediately, crops will rot. California apricot farmer George Bonacich said: “If we don’t have enough labor at peak time, the fruit goes on the ground.” Furthermore, in what represents more absurd saber rattling, farmers claim that without cheap labor, they will be forced to move their operations to Mexico.

The rotting fruit forecast is a long standing ploy in the argument for more illegal alien farm labor. Although the ominous projection has been around as long as the debate about comprehensive immigration reform, it’s been proven wrong each year.

Here’s an example. In 2006 during the heart of the pear season, the New York Times featured a front page story titled “Pickers Are Few and Growers Blame Congress”. A few weeks later however, the Sacramento Bee published this story: “Labor Shortages Don’t Materialize in California.” That pattern has repeated itself year after year for decades.

This native Californian, who lived for 25 years in the San Joaquin Valley, has no recollection of seeing fruit or vegetables spoil. Understanding why is simple. During the past several years, many farms have relied on the same labor pool season after season. According to the National Agricultural Labor Survey, conducted by the Department of Labor, U.S. citizens and legal immigrants comprise nearly half of all crop workers.

And, because of the horrible economy and housing crisis, pickers who once may have had the option to move up to construction jobs are now happy to have field work. Other farms are family-run and draw from their relatives to harvest crops.

Nevertheless, the growers’ annual dire forecast hasn’t lost it power as a bargaining chip. Even though Smith’s bill as written contains a three-year grace period before growers have to comply, agribusiness wants two additional years tacked on.

Completely ignored in the debate is the existing, legal solution. The H-2A visa allows farmers to use an unlimited number of foreign-born workers for seasonal employment. Growers, however, reject the H-2A as too bureaucratically complex and demanding.

What the farmers really mean when they call the H-2B cumbersome is that the visa requires employers to pay minimum wage and provide decent working conditions.

Agribusiness is up to its old trick of trying to blackmail Congress into issuing more visas that would be hurtful to the citizens and legal immigrants among the existing farm laborers.

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Joe Guzzardi has written editorial columns—mostly about immigration and related social issues – since 1986. He is a Senior Writing Fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) and his columns have frequently been syndicated in various U.S. newspapers and websites. Contact him at [email protected].