Each day, folks across the country head to the grocery store to purchase food to feed their families. A look in the shopping carts will show Americans love their dairy products, which they should. Study after study has shown these tasty products deliver serious health benefits, yet the industry is at the brink of collapse from a lack of secure, reliable labor.
Cheesemakers, dairy producers and allied business supporting the industry require a constant supply of workers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to milk the cows, run machinery and care for the crops.
Our domestic labor sources, time and time again, pass up this type of employment, and the current immigrant labor pool is running dry. Currently, 51 percent of dairy farm workers are immigrants, but the industry must grow in order to keep up with the global demand for worldwide dairy products. In the next 40 years, the dairy, livestock and agriculture industry will need to produce more food than the last 10,000 years combined to keep up with the growing global population. So what are producers to do?
Some producers and processors are planning to increase their wages, dramatically, to draw in domestic workers. It’s not that these jobs currently offer unreasonable pay, but with a recent push from liberal states to raise their minimum wage requirements, domestic workers expect an increase in wage. Even with this increase, many domestic laborers opt for other types of employment opportunities. Farming is labor-intensive, and it requires an all-hands-on-deck effort to get the job done. Raising wages is only a short-term fix to keep businesses running, not a chance to grow. The industry is in desperate need of a solution that gives hope for the future. A solution that allows farmers to grow and thrive, and ensures families around the world have access to healthy, nutritious and affordable dairy products. Waiting for a solution to fall into our laps is not going to happen.
The American Dairy Coalition (ADC) has actively been working on a solution to fix our broken immigration system. The state-based visa program, an idea developed as a collaboration between a Washington, D.C., think-tank and ADC members across the nation, is gaining traction on Capitol Hill. This new proposed legislation allows each state that participates to determine what their labor needs are and how immigrant labor will fill this demand. This bill creates a federally overseen system allowing states to voluntarily participate and determine what business markets must be filled. Law-abiding workers and their families, already living and working within the states, would be provided the opportunity to obtain a visa to legally continue to work in the state they have made their home. The program also provides participating states a quota of new visas to be filled by ready, willing and able workers waiting to build a better future in our country.
This coalition refuses to idly stand by and watch the dairy industry collapse. We refuse to watch as farmers struggle to find people to milk their cows. Members of our industry must stand together and work towards a solution before it’s too late.
To learn more about the state-based visa program and ADC, visit the ADC website. Contact ADC via email or call (920) 965-6070. PD
Laurie Fischer is president of the American Dairy Coalition. Email Laurie Fischer.
