Wisconsin dairy industry leaders are asking the Senate to change immigrant labor policies to help fix the concerning farm labor shortage and rising costs they’re experiencing. It’s part of a bill called the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.
Here’s Five Fast Facts on the FWMA:
- 🐄Inclusion - The bill would allow dairy farms to use H-2A visa-holding immigrants for temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs. The dairy industry is currently excluded from the H-2A program.
- 🧈Low Pay - One of the bill’s backers said because most dairy jobs pay only living wages, no one wants to do them and that is causing part of the shortage. He actually said that out loud and on the record with people present.
- 🧀Benefits - H-2A immigrants do make a big difference in our economy. A recent study shows that workers with that classification lead to lower inflation, higher average wages and lower unemployment numbers.
- 🥛Prime Percentage - Immigrants currently make up 5% of our state’s population, but they work 10.5% of jobs in the dairy industry.
- 🍦Hey Senators! - FWMA has already passed Congress and is basically waiting on the Senate floor for approval. Get a moo-ve on!
🔥Bottom line: A labor shortage means the dairy industry is clearly in trouble. Since that’s kind of our state’s thing, it’d be a bad look if we couldn’t fix it. Passing H-2A is the smart move in this situation and would definitely stop a lot of the bleeding.
What do you think of the FWMA?
Guess what? The President doesn't impact dairy farm policies at the state level...but your local & state government reps do! Here’s three small things you can do that make a BIG impact:
