WASHINGTON — A pathway to legal status for hundreds of thousands of migrant farmworkers could show up in a must-pass agriculture and nutrition legislative package — commonly known as the U.S. Farm Bill. One dairy farmer in Wisconsin says that change would be invaluable.
Wisconsin’s dairy industry is looking to stabilize. There are around 4000 fewer dairy farms today than there were this time 10 years ago, according to USDA data. Fortunately, those remaining aren’t shuttering nearly as quickly as just a few years ago.
“As many of you know with inflation, our cost of production has done nothing but go up,” said Brody Stapel, the co-owner Double Dutch Dairy. “So, the margin there is zero if not negative on a lot of dairy farms in Wisconsin currently and across the midwest.”
Stapel says on top of those troubles, farmers in his field are facing a labor shortage.
“I've been farming for 10 years, and I've yet to find an American that wants to come and milk cows here and do a lot of the cattle work that we need to get done on a daily basis,” the Cedar Grove, Wisconsin farmer told Spectrum News.
Stapel’s farm crew is made up completely of migrant workers. According to the state’s Department of Workforce Development, there were at least 6,000 immigrants utilized in Wisconsin’s agriculture industry last year.
“It's certainly something that we're grateful for, that we can get people that come in and do that work,” Stapel said.
That’s why he is asking Congress to help workers like those on his team by passing the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.
“It’s well-past time we get this legislation that serves the best interests of our country to the President’s desk,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Cali., wrote in a statement after reintroducing the bill in the House of Representatives in June.
The bill creates a year-round visa program for immigrant farmworkers.
“There's an avenue in there that provides a way for people that are here to stay here,” Stapel said. “They don't have to live in fear. They don't have to worry about, you know, looking over their back every day, whether or not they're going to be deported. These are good people that are law abiding.”
While there has been bipartisan support for the bill since its first introduction in 2019, the legislation ultimately died in the Senate. Now that Congress has to pass the U.S. Farm Bill, Stapel says it’s the perfect opportunity to finally get this bill across the finish line.
“Certainly, we would advocate for having some sort of a dairy labor reform, immigration reform put into the farm bill,” he said. “It’s certainly a big part of the farm and food security in this country”