Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Herb Kohl (D-WI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) have introduced the H-2A Improvement Act, which will authorize foreign dairy workers, sheep herders, and goat herders to remain in the U.S. for an initial period of three years, and gives the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services the authority to approve a worker for an additional three-year period.
Under present law, farms that hire seasonal workers to harvest fruits and vegetables can utilize the H-2A visa program. Dairy farms are not included because milk production is not considered seasonal work, a situation, National Milk Producers Federation president and CEO Jerry Kozak says finding qualified help on dairy farms is a real challenge and “Expanding the H-2A program so that dairy farmers can use it is one answer to that challenge.”
A survey released in 2009 of the labor and hiring practices of U.S. dairy operations found that many farms are heavily dependent on foreign laborers, and that the dairy sector would be crippled if it had no access to immigrant workers.
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