By Clint Thompson
The Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA) continues to prioritize its farmers and promote an even playing field when discussions center on trade.
Its leadership recently visited with legislative leaders and those with a vested interest in the looming Farm Bill. Chris Butts, executive vice president of the GFVGA, discussed his organization’s trip to Washington D.C.
“It was a fantastic trip. Commissioner (Tyler) Harper put this together. We had folks from the Agribusiness Council and GFVGA that went. We were able to meet in person with most members of the Georgia delegation as well as some of the House and Senate leadership teams. It was fantastic to actually get in front of the decision makers and folks that are up there representing us,” Butts said.
“As far as Farm Bill initiatives, we’ve worked through the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance to develop those priorities, promoting things like mechanization, automation and research. For GFVGA, we continue to focus on leveling the playing field and doing something that can bring some relief to our folks still facing surging imports.”
The current labor crisis remains a focal point of specialty crop discussions. Producers don’t have enough. They can’t afford to pay for the workers they need. That is where technological advancements are needed to relieve the farmer of those costly labor needs.
“Automation and mechanization are a long play for sure for our industry. We look at how intensive that producing, harvesting and packing our crops is in terms of the hand labor that’s needed to do that. If we can find a way to invest in mechanization and automation, even though that’s a long play, if we can find a way to make our workers more efficient, make those jobs easier and make our farms more efficient, then hopefully we’re not in this tight of a labor crunch as we find ourselves in,” Butts said. “The other topic that was discussed in every office was H-2A and the negative changes that have happened in that program over the last couple of years.
“We believe that for the program to continue we’ve got to fix it. No one can plan for a 14% pay increase; in some cases, 30 days or less before their workers arrive. That’s what our guys faced this year.”
Georgia is the third largest user of the H-2A program.
“It’s vitally important to the future of our industry. We’ve got to make every attempt that we can to try to fix it,” Butts said.