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More dependence on H-2A expected

An ag economist says immigration policy and aging migrant workers has led to a significant increase in the H-2A guest worker program over the past decade.

“Now it’s close to 250,000 workers are brought into this program.”        

Stephen Devadoss with Texas Tech University tells Brownfield labor-intensive crops like tree fruits as well as dairy are the largest users of the program and need a streamlined application process to meet time-sensitive needs.

“On one hand, there’s an immigration problem—the government wants to crack down on these workers coming into the U.S.  But, on the opposite end of the spectrum, farmers have this continued labor shortfall.”     

Devadoss’s says a better functioning program is considerably less expensive than immigration control policies and could mitigate crop losses and incentivize employers to use more guest workers.   He says that would not only addresses labor shortages but also lead to less unauthorized entries into the U.S.

Devadoss’s work is part of a five-paper series with the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.