Florida Farms Face Labor Pinch Due To Government Shutdown

Florida citrus harvest

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The ripple effects of the 16-day federal government shutdown might be felt in the fields of Florida for some time. Just as harvest cranks up on the state’s citrus crop a key source of labor sat stalled with the shutdown — namely the H-2A program.

In recent years, Florida growers have increasingly turned to H-2A because of concerns over immigration enforcement. For the 2010-2011 season, the State Department of Economic Opportunity had H-2A applications for more than 9,000 workers. In 2011-2012, that number had risen to more than 12,000 workers.

A key office in the labyrinth of bureaucracy needed for approval of H-2A visas was closed during the political standoff, right in the middle of processing many requests for labor from Florida. With 70% of the state’s citrus crop harvested by H-2A labor last season, it presents a clear challenge for growers.

According to Florida Citrus Mutual, only about 20% of the state’s H-2A workforce had visas in hand before the shutdown. The remaining 80% of applications for citrus harvest sat stalled for 16 days.

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Justin Sorrells, owner and general manager of Sorrells Citrus and DeSoto Fruit & Harvesting, was among the fortunate few who secured workers before the shutdown, but he says significant delays could have far-reaching effects on the entire industry.

“We began the application process early, so our H-2A workers are ready to go,” he says. “But, if you get a delay that pushes the bulk of labor coming to Florida for harvest for several weeks, you worry about the impact on the processing plants’ operations if volume is light. It has the potential to be a big problem for everybody.”

H-2A applications first have to go to the State Workforce Agency for approval, and then the application is submitted to the Department of Labor’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification in Chicago. Once Chicago has certified the application, it must go to Homeland Security’s Citizenship and Immigration Service office in California. Finally, the visa approval must go to individual embassies where the workers must be interviewed.

“The only part of that chain that was shut down was the Office of Foreign Labor Certification in Chicago,” says Mike Carlton, director of labor relations for the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association. “Of course that’s the most important part since it essentially starts the process. Pleas were made to the Secretary of Labor that that office should be declared ‘essential’ since providing food to America’s tables seems to be an essential function, as well as a domestic food supply being a national security issue, but the Secretary declined to name those workers essential.”

How far the delay will push back growers ability to obtain harvesting labor depends on how well the agencies involved react to recommendations from the agriculture industry to speed up the H-2A approval process.

“The most obvious is we have urged the Secretary of Labor and Secretary of State to commit additional resources (people) to processing the applications until the backlog is cleared,” says Carlton. “In addition, we have suggested to the Secretary of State that the embassies should create a ‘frequent worker program’ for those H-2A workers who have been cleared for the previous two years. This would mean a much shorter interview process in the embassies and consulates.”

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