Rep. Duffy’s bill modifies visa programs to allow dairy workers to hold a visa for 18 months.

Jacqui Fatka, Policy editor

April 14, 2017

2 Min Read
DAIRY Act expands H-2A for year-round use

Rep. Sean Duffy (R., Wis.) introduced the Defending the Agricultural Industry’s Requirements Year-round Act of 2017 (DAIRY Act), which expands the H-2A worker program to benefit the nation’s dairy farmers who have struggled to maintain a stable, legal workforce.

Currently, agricultural guest-worker programs do not work well for dairy because the industry is not seasonal. This bill modifies the existing visa program to allow dairy workers to hold a visa for 18 months, giving farmers certainty about the stability of their workforce.

“I’m proud to stand by Wisconsin dairy farmers to modernize our guest-worker program, because our farmers provide their products to market year-round, not just for a season. Dairy farmers and dairy workers alike deserve more certainty in this labor program, and my bill does just that,” Duffy said in a statement.

The American Dairy Coalition (ADC) “highly supports” the efforts Duffy is making to help the dairy industry utilize the H-2A visa program. Previously, the dairy industry was excluded due to its 365-days-per-year need for labor. Dairy farmers have been waiting for a provision to utilize the H2-A visa category to legally employ immigrant workers to fill important roles that domestic workers continually pass up. The H2-A visa is a vital tool to provide year-round labor for dairy operations.

ADC has worked diligently on several immigration reform bills, with each representing various tools dairy farmers can utilize to access the labor so desperately needed to ensure that they can successfully maintain their businesses. ADC said it “will work hard with Rep. Duffy to move this bill over the finish line.”

Immigration solutions for the dairy industry remain a top concern for many in Congress. During the nomination hearing for Sonny Perdue, secretary of agriculture nominee, a number of senators raised the issue of immigration, primarily in the context of dairy farmers’ need for farm workers. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) voiced concern with President Donald Trump’s recent immigration actions and urged Perdue to advocate for an Administration policy that supports a consistent flow of labor, particularly for dairy farms.

About the Author(s)

Jacqui Fatka

Policy editor, Farm Futures

Jacqui Fatka grew up on a diversified livestock and grain farm in southwest Iowa and graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications, with a minor in agriculture education, in 2003. She’s been writing for agricultural audiences ever since. In college, she interned with Wallaces Farmer and cultivated her love of ag policy during an internship with the Iowa Pork Producers Association, working in Sen. Chuck Grassley’s Capitol Hill press office. In 2003, she started full time for Farm Progress companies’ state and regional publications as the e-content editor, and became Farm Futures’ policy editor in 2004. A few years later, she began covering grain and biofuels markets for the weekly newspaper Feedstuffs. As the current policy editor for Farm Progress, she covers the ongoing developments in ag policy, trade, regulations and court rulings. Fatka also serves as the interim executive secretary-treasurer for the North American Agricultural Journalists. She lives on a small acreage in central Ohio with her husband and three children.

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