Recently NEAFA, in conjunction with other agricultural associations, reached out to US Senators to address worker shortages and transportation limitations that are impacting the effectiveness of agricultural businesses throughout New York and New England.
Specifically, NEAFA and the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) reached out to US Senators Schumer (NY) and Leahy (VT) over the prohibitive truck weight restrictions that are unique to Connecticut. While milk tanker trucks have a permit to travel to CT farms and load their trucks without worry about being legally overloaded, the same cannot be said for the feed trucks delivering to farms throughout CT. Manufacturers from New York and Vermont are not able to deliver a full load to CT dairy farmers, raising the costs to service their clients in the state.
Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-2) made a hard push for an overweight permit for feed trucks in the most recent surface transportation bill but was unfortunately stopped. You can read a copy of Congressman Courtney’s amendment by clicking here. Given the current level of interest in infrastructure reinvestment, we think the time is right to get this permit proposal over the goal line. We urge our members to reach out to your US representatives and make your voices heard.
NEAFA also coordinated with the Northeast Dairy Producers Association (NEDPA) to urge US Senator Schumer's immediate support of immigration reform to address the workforce shortages and challenges faced by the farms producing the food and fiber needs of this country.
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the food insecurities of our country and focused attention on where the greatest challenges lie. Farmers have faced an onslaught of challenges, however the most critical is finding the skilled labor we need to operate. While this is not unlike other businesses, our dairy farms must operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year because we take care of cows. Unlike other manufacturing businesses, we can't choose to “shut down" shifts or operate fewer days a week if we can't find labor. Cows must be milked, fed and cared for on regular schedules in order to maintain their health and well-being, and crops must be planted and harvested at optimum times in order to produce high-quality feed for cows to eat throughout the year.
There simply are not enough domestic workers who want to work on farms to fill these positions and because our labor needs are year-around and not seasonal we have not had access to the H-2A program. We desperately need a guest worker program that provides a solution for year-around farmworkers to stay and work on our dairy farms legally.
We encourage Senator Schumer to work across the aisle to pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. This important legislation will address a critical labor shortage, help strengthen our food supply chain, and support the viability of Northeast agriculture. Again, we urge our members to reach out to their US representatives to let them know that this is an issue of concern and importance for them.