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Ag labor needs to be a top priority in immigration reform
A blueberry grower says he’s concerned about how the Trump administration’s stance on immigration could impact the ag labor supply.
Arthur Thomas farms in the heart of Southwest Michigan’s blueberry country in Grand Junction. He tells Brownfield a migrant workforce is vitally important to specialty crop farmers and consumers. “If you want blueberries and strawberries and raspberries, you want zucchinis and peppers and all of those good things, we have to have this labor force.” He says a domestic workforce is not available to fill field and processing jobs which means the industry has to have access to migrant labor.
Thomas says however immigration policy is reformed, ag labor needs to be a priority. “We’re not saying border security isn’t important, it is absolutely important. But we simply want to say, ‘Look, we need a stable and legal workforce.’”
After visiting with legislators during this week’s Michigan Farm Bureau’s Washington Legislative Seminar, Thomas says he’s hopeful immigration reform that benefits agriculture is possible.
AUDIO: Interview with Arthur Thomas
The U. S. has millions of people on unemployment, millions on welfare – figure it out! Time for people to get off welfare and get to work and time for Agriculture to pay a fair wage!