E-Verify On The Hot Seat

This year’s United Fresh Washington Public Policy Conference (WPPC), which concluded Wednesday in Washington, DC, highlighted nutrition, the 2012 Farm Bill, food safety, and E-Verify — just to name a few topics. It was apparent at the outset of the conference, however, that the hot button issue was E-Verify.

As part of the WPPC, attendees march on Capitol Hill to discuss the needs and issues of the fresh produce industry with members of Congress. This year, United urged attendees to tell their representatives that a viable ag worker program that meets the needs of the produce industry must be included in any form of E-Verify legislation.

While visiting the offices of members of Congress, Ted Campbell, executive director of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association, said E-Verify will be devastating to the industry. “If there are no hands to pick the crop, nothing else matters,” he said.

Bob Morrissey, executive director of the National Watermelon Association, Inc., in Lakeland, FL, echoed the sentiments of Campbell. “E-Verify is the scariest thing we have ever come up against,” he said.

The reality of what will occur if E-Verify becomes law in its current form has already hit home. As many know, the state of Georgia implemented its own E-Verify law, and despite the fact that growers did not have to be in compliance until 2013, many labor crews bypassed the state earlier this year. In the end, fruits and vegetables were not harvested and the Georgia produce industry suffered massive losses.  

Charles Hall, Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA) executive director, presented the preliminary data from an economic impact study at one of the conference sessions. He discussed findings from the study which the organization commissioned to analyze production data from the spring and summer harvest.

“Georgia is the poster child for what can happen when mandatory E-Verify and enforcement legislation is passed without an adequate guest worker program,” said Hall.

The report, conducted by The University of Georgia Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development, will be released later this week. It analyzed data from seven crops that represented more than 46.4% of the acreage available for harvest this spring. The seven crops studied represented a total farm gate value of more than $578 million in the 2009 University of Georgia Farm Gate Survey.

Growers that said they had experienced labor losses in the spring and summer of 2011, represented more than 80% of the production acreage reported in the survey. Based on the data submitted for each of the crops, the following losses were calculated as being directly attributable to harvest or packing labor shortages: blueberries, $29,015,947; blackberries, $4,027,125, Vidalia onions, $16,312,345; bell pepper, $15,115,645; squash, $1,948,629; cucumber, $5,932,600; and watermelon $2,592,230. The total dollar figure was $74,980,521.

Assuming the grower responses in the study are representative of all growers of that commodity, the total loss at the farm gate attributed to labor shortage for the seven crops studied would be about $140 million. 

Seeing what the industry is up against, Congressman Dan Lungren (R-CA), who spoke at the conference, in September introduced the Legal Agricultural Workforce Act. Although the legislation was not successful in committee, he says that led to an awareness regarding E-Verify that we haven’t seen before. “If we are going to enact E-Verify, we have to recognize agriculture,” he said. “We can’t lose sight of the fact that the details of a guest worker program are very important to ensure [growers] get the workers on their farm when they need them.”

Specifically, the proposed Legal Agricultural Workforce Act would do the following:
• As is the case with American workers, nonimmigrant agricultural workers would have the freedom to move among different employers and would have the protection of all applicable federal, state, and local employment related laws applicable to U.S. agricultural workers.
• Workers would be admitted to the U.S. to work in agriculture for up to 10 months in any 12 month period.
• This proposal would abandon the bureaucratic structure of the H-2A program and would be administered by the Department of Agriculture.
• To fund costs of the program, employers would make contributions into a trust fund in an amount equivalent to the Social Security tax and the Federal Unemployment Tax Act.
• As an incentive to return home, the employee portion of the Social Security tax would be refundable to them on their return home from the U.S.

Lungren admits his proposal is not perfect but he said it will address about 90% of labor needs. Ending on a positive note, he encouraged those in attendance to work together on this issue.

“You have the attention of Congress,” he told the crowd. “Go out and do this.”