After many years of frustration searching for an answer to the labor challenges faced by dairy farmers in Colorado, there’s now a glimmer of hope coming from Washington.
The House Judiciary Committee recently approved a new bill that would create an agricultural guest worker program that farmers, ranchers and food processors could use to legally obtain the workforce that right now is often hard to come by.
Any changes to our immigration laws are bound to be controversial, so I understand the immense pressure Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., was under in his role as a member of the committee that reviewed the bill, titled the Agriculture Guestworker Act. I applaud his decision to vote in support of this measure as it addresses many of the concerns of dairy farmers like me, while providing a legal means to address the supply-demand imbalance in farm labor.
U.S. dairy operations are in serious need of workers, and with our 24-7-365 labor needs, the current seasonal agriculture visa program totally fails the test. Without an adequate number of workers to milk the cows, I could lose the animals and the livelihood they’ve helped create for my family.
Is this bill the perfect solution? No. But it does put us on a path toward a stable, dependable and legal workforce for America’s agriculture sector.
We’ve waited for years just to get to this very point, so I deeply appreciate Rep. Buck for listening to the concerns of his farmer constituents and voting in support of meaningful labor reform.
Chris Kraft, Fort Morgan