Last week the House defeated an immigration bill that included a guest worker program on a vote of 231 to 193. South Dakota Dairy Producers Association President Marv Post was disappointed they failed to the pass the measure. He says without the guest worker program called for in the bill, agriculture is left with only the H2A visa program. He says that only provides help for seasonal workers and not for year round workers needed by the dairy industry.
He says the current labor shortage for agriculture is a big problem.
Post says his group will be pushing Congress to get some type of immigration reform measure passed going forward.
Post agrees with Congressman Bob Goodlatte who said the labor force status quo is clearly unsustainable for U.S. agriculture.
