The House Rules Committee will talk about the Farm Workforce Modernization Act this morning. The measure passed the house two years ago but failed to go anywhere.
Earlier this month, a bipartisan effort was made to reintroduce the bill, which would give certified ag worker status to temporary workers.
Claudia Larsen with the National Milk Producers Federation says that this legislation addresses two broad needs of the dairy industry.
According to Larsen, “Dairys’ general needs within the ag labor space are protection for our current workers and their families, some sort of legal status there to protect our current workers, and then also, we need access to a workable guest worker program.”
The American Farm Bureau has criticized the bill saying that it falls short of long-term solutions to farm labor shortages, which they say is one of the most significant barriers to success in many regions.
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