H2A Changes

H2A Changes. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Dan Fazio with Washington Farm Bureau has been keeping up on what is happening with the Obama Administration and the ever changing H2A rules. FAZIO: The Obama Administration has finalized rule on the new H2A program that makes it very, very hard to impossible for people to use and the American Farm Bureau filed a suit in an attempt to get an injunction against those rules. We were unsuccessful so the rules are in effect. The H2A program is the only way for farmers to get a legal and stable workforce. FAZIO: We anticipate that this year there will be seasonal workers just because the economy is so poor in construction and other areas but these are jobs that by and large American's don't want to do and farmers need these extra 50 to 60-thousand workers to come to our state every year from May through November and do that work. Farm Bureau has not been happy with the changes made and Fazio discusses those. FAZIO: Basically it increases the bureaucracy for the program which is the first issue – makes it unclear when the responsibility to pay for workers. Is it when the worker leaves their doo or when they cross the border so it make it kind of tough in that regard and then it puts a lot of fees and costs on to the farmers. Fees that were shared between the worker and the farmer are now 100% on the farmer. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.