Lack of immigration reform hurts businesses and farmers, puts nation’s food supply at risk – By Candy Woodall, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, Phillip M. Bailey & Bailey Schulz (USA Today) / Oct 30, 2022
PEACH BOTTOM, Pa. – This picturesque village in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is nearly 2,000 miles from the country’s southern border.
But at Graywood Farms in the heart of Amish country, farmer and co-owner Lisa Graybill warns of a pressing immigration issue that she and other farmers say is not getting enough attention: They need migrant workers to keep their farms running and Americans fed.
“This is extremely urgent,” Graybill said. “Without immigrant labor, our dairy farm wouldn’t be here.”
She and other Pennsylvania farmers say they want Congress to stop attacking each other over immigration and pass reform that will give year-round growers and producers – which describes most farms – access to the H2-A farmworker program used by seasonal growers and producers. The visa program would ease the worker shortage in the agriculture industry.
