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Georgia Producers Tackle Labor Uncertainty at Annual Ag Forum

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Tifton, GA |

For Georgia farmers, securing a reliable workforce is vital to a successful harvest—especially when it comes to fresh produce and specialty crops. That’s why many of them gathered in Tifton for the annual Agricultural Labor Relations Forum, an event aimed at keeping producers up-to-date on the latest changes to the country’s guest worker programs.

Beth Oleson, Director of Education for the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, says the forum continues to build momentum and foster productive dialogue between growers and regulatory agencies.

“I feel like we actually have gained some momentum. We’ve gained some, some real positive strides with our regulatory agencies. They’re here, they come every year, and they’re actually excited to be here. They’re listening to us. Changes are happening because our growers, our packers, our shippers, our processors are present and they’re having conversations. That’s what this forum is all about,” said Oleson.

According to Will Bentley, President of the Georgia Agribusiness Council, the H-2A guest worker program is essential to Georgia agriculture—especially since the domestic labor force is no longer a viable option for many growers.

“Georgia farmers are, you know, a top user of H-2A labor, typically between number one and number two, state of using the program in the country. So, I mean, it’s obviously important to our industry, especially on the fresh produce side and specialty crops and dairy and green industry and other things like that. So, it’s extremely important to us.”

“Unfortunately, the domestic labor force has shrunk to the point where it’s not really a reliable source of labor for picking crops or working in the fields. It’s become harder, and finding that labor has been more of a challenge. So really, having a dependable labor force through the H-2A program is really what makes Georgia agriculture successful in our ability to be diverse in the crops that we grow here in the state that we just simply couldn’t do if we weren’t able to have a dependable labor force.”

However, that reliance on guest labor has brought added uncertainty—especially as changes to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) continue to strain farm budgets.

“Ten, twenty, thirty percent increases on your labor rate—especially when those decisions aren’t rolled out until kind of late winter when farmers are already making planting decisions, already making hiring decisions—and then they get an increase in their adverse wage rate that they’re required to pay. That’s been the biggest challenge is just offsetting that when farmers can’t just simply raise their prices,” Bentley explained. “We’re price takers. So, the commodity is kind of set on the market for what that’s going to go for a farmer. But then they get a huge increase on the labor side—not to mention the increases on inputs, whether it’s equipment or fertilizer or chemical. So, it’s just really been a challenge on the cost side for our farmers. And that’s really been the biggest obstacle for them being successful.”

Despite the challenges, organizers and attendees of the forum remain hopeful that continued education, conversation, and collaboration can help move the industry forward—ensuring that growers have the tools and labor they need to keep Georgia agriculture thriving.

By: John Holcomb

Labor Shortages, Input Costs Concern Producers

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Tifton, GA |

Down in Tifton recently, the University of Georgia held their yearly Ag Forecast – an event that’s meant to give insight into the ag economy for the coming year. This year, attendees got to hear first-hand insight as an industry panel discussed the challenges they’ve seen. One of the panelists was Will Bentley, President of the Georgia Agribusiness Council, who says farmers and producers are getting hit from all sides, but labor and input prices are by far their biggest concern.

“I think our farmers are facing some of the issues that they faced over the last several years, labor being a key component to the challenges in agriculture, whether that’s H-2A labor, whether that’s just normal farm labor, equipment operators, or even on the business sector. We’re seeing kind of a labor shortage in every sector of our industry. For our farmers unfortunately, I think it’s going to be a tight year for commodity prices, but also going to see, if not increased at least still high input costs. So, any time you have a lower commodity price, but input costs are still high, it’s going to be a tough year,” says Will Bentley, President of the Georgia Agribusiness Council.

One person that knows that all too well is Karla Thompson, Vice President of JET Farms Georgia, who says that finding good, reliable labor is by far their biggest challenge.

“Our number one challenge right now in our operation, and that’s across every aspect, is finding good help. So, we are in a small town in a rural area. There’s not a huge labor pool to begin with. And the types of jobs that we need help with are skilled jobs. So, finding people to fill those spots and people that have the flexibility to help with the harvest side, that can be really challenging,” says Thompson.

According to Thompson, the reason why labor is such a problem for them is due to how labor issues end up affecting their entire operation, so much so that they’ve had to let produce go to waste because they couldn’t get it out of the field.

“It really does affect all facets of our operation be it from harvest to planting to even finding people to help work in the office. So, on the harvest side, where it really gets to be a problem is if we don’t have enough labor to harvest the, the product from the field, that’s especially a big deal when you come, when you look at sweet corn, green beans, blueberries, they don’t store. They have to be harvested at the right time or, or they’re no good,” says Thompson.

According to Bentley, to make matters worse, he says that policies and mandates have put even more burden and stress on farmers.

“We’re looking at mandates being passed down from the federal government dealing with adverse wage prices and increases for our fruit vegetable growers that utilize the H-2A program. We’re seeing more mandates on some of the crop protection products that we use that are very productive for our farmers. We’re seeing a tighter fertilizer supply and different things like that, that are a little bit more policy driven. So, when the economics are tight, we want to make sure that our government is not piling on and hurting our farmers even further,” says Bentley.

By: John Holcomb