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By Bob Larson, Ag Information Network

From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. The ag community has been calling for reform of the H-2A foreign guestworker visa program for years with little to show for their efforts.

But Enrique Gastelum, CEO at the Worker and Farmer Labor Association, says it’s not just about the labor needs being filled …

GASTELUM … “I think some of the things that getting missed in this story is if these farmers don’t have access to use this H-2A program and we can’t get the costs under control and make this program a little more efficient for them to use, many farms, I mean we’re seeing them close left and right every single day. It’s a bloodbath out there.”

And the farmers, Gastellum says aren’t the only one’s impacted …

GASTELUM … “If they can’t have this program to help be a major factor or a part of their future sustainability, every farm that closes is a loss to that community for domestic worker jobs.”

And lawmakers, Gastellum says need to understand that …

GASTELUM … “It’s interesting to me when I hear some certain advocates getting so loud and angry about this foreign guestworker program. Well, I’m sorry, but if it goes away then this smaller minority of farmworkers, domestic, that you’re advocating for are not going to have anywhere to go look for a job, at least in farming.”

Gastellum says domestic workers and their advocates need to realize that H-2A workers help boost the wage rate.