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Ohio grower shares labor woes with Trump

A specialty crop grower says the lack of labor is hindering business across the country.

Tom Demaline, president of Willoway Nurseries in Avon, Ohio, was invited to a roundtable of farmers with President Trump this week in Washington where labor was the number one concern.  “The horticultural, the chicken guys, the cattle producers, the dairy people—everybody has the same issue—a lack of labor and having enough people to do the work and expand your farms.”

Demaline tells Brownfield their business has been utilizing the H-2A guest worker visa program for the past 18 years.  “We were really forced to go to that because we couldn’t find an adequate, legal labor supply in our part of the state to get us geared up in the spring where we need about 250 seasonal employees March 1^st—we go from zero to 100 in a matter of a week.”

He says the 1,000 acre wholesale nursery relies on about 175 guest workers each year which involves a lot of red tape with applications, border crossings and housing requirements.  “It’s not a source of cheap labor, it’s a source of legal labor.”

Demaline tells Brownfield the President acknowledged the issues farmers discussed and expects action in the form of regulatory reform and new legislation.

AUDIO: Interview with Tom Demaline