Agriculture groups are applauding the State Department’s move to promptly allow foreign farm workers from South Africa into the U.S.
Ryan Haffner from Kansas is a board member for the U.S. Custom Harvesters and utilizes the H-2A program every year. “Other than Mexico, South Africa would be probably the next biggest country for ag workers, and in the custom harvesting business, the South Africans would probably be the largest group of people from a certain country.”
Haffner says like the dairy industry, he would like a year-round permanent labor solution, but he uses the H-2A and J1 internship programs now. He says farmers and harvesters bringing workers in from western Europe had problems last year and they will likely experience trouble again this year.
