U.S. Sen. Ossoff presses USDA for H-2A wage info

U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is launching an inquiry into how the USDA conducts its Farm Labor Survey in Georgia.

Ossoff, D-Georgia, launched an inquiry with USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) asking for more transparency in the Farm Labor Survey, which the Department of Labor uses to determine wages for H-2A temporary visa program workers in Georgia and across the nation.

Ossoff is asking the USDA to provide information about how Georgia growers are asked to participate in the Farm Labor Survey and to provide resources for farmers to help them complete the survey.

“Agriculture is Georgia’s number-one industry, and one of my top priorities is ensuring that Georgia’s farmers and farmworkers prosper,” Ossoff wrote. “For this reason, I write to request additional information about the data you gather about Georgia’s agricultural economy, how you deploy your limited resources to best inform the agricultural public, and how we can work together to support Georgia’s growers as they provide important data to you.”

Georgia has seen substantial increases in the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) for the Southeast over the past two years. The AEWR is what H-2A employees earn each hour.

In October, Ossoff launched an inquiry with CBP urging them to begin collecting assessments on imported pecans, which funds domestic programs aimed at boosting sales of American pecans and leveling the playing field for domestic producers of pecans.

In August, Sens. Ossoff and Marco Rubio (R-Florida) led a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers urging U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to follow through on a promise by the Biden Administration to help Southeastern seasonal producers affected by unfair trade practices.