{"id":79,"date":"2023-12-08T17:50:20","date_gmt":"2023-12-08T22:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/?page_id=79"},"modified":"2024-08-07T08:33:12","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T12:33:12","slug":"project-background","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/project-background\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Background"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The role of H-2A foreign labor is assessed as whether it is: mere supplier of incremental\/supplementary workers, optional\/potential competitors of local farm work, or inevitable labor inputs. Based on farm needs, the assessment of the H-2A program patronage trends are analyzed under two scenarios: &nbsp;current program guidelines vs. proposed modifications (e.g., potential cost-effective program alternatives).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Empirical and anecdotal evidence establish that U.S. farms operate under a tightening labor market where the domestic workforce is unwilling to take on farm jobs.&nbsp; In recent years, farms increasingly relied on the H-2A program for sourcing contractual foreign workers.&nbsp; H-2A utilization trends indicate that crop farms accounted for 80-90 percent of H-2A workers hired since 2010. Conversely, livestock farms accounted for only 4-8 percent. This is partially attributed to the livestock production cycle: although many ranch operations are labor intensive, the industry\u2019s need for year-round labor cannot be filled by seasonal, temporary H-2A work contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (FWMA) was passed by the US Congress and is awaiting Senate\u2019s approval.&nbsp; If enacted, FWMA will introduce H-2A program amendments, including lengthening workers\u2019 initial stay to 3 years. This project will investigate if FWMA\u2019s proposed amendments will encourage cattle-dairy farms to hire more H-2A workers. Moreover, we will validate whether livestock farms\u2019 historically-low H-2A employment can be attributed to factors outside the H-2A program (e.g., labor market dynamics, structural, demographic, and behavioral conditions).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This project offers an important regional perspective in understanding the cattle-dairy farms\u2019 labor hiring predicament. A Midwestern perspective is introduced in our project, through our academic and farmer collaborators from Wisconsin\u2014home of 23 percent of all U.S. dairy farms and second-largest milk producer. A comparative analysis of Southern and Midwestern models will shed light on important regional differences in market dynamics, behavioral, economic, and social conditions. This variation is necessary to tease out the relative importance of each factor in determining reliance on H-2A labor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/files\/2023\/12\/cattle1-1-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Close up of brown and white cow's face in front of a green field, blue sky, and black and white cow in the background\" class=\"wp-image-87\" style=\"width:446px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/files\/2023\/12\/cattle1-1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/files\/2023\/12\/cattle1-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/files\/2023\/12\/cattle1-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/files\/2023\/12\/cattle1-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/files\/2023\/12\/cattle1-1.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"624\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/files\/2023\/12\/SARElogo-2.png\" alt=\"Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education\" class=\"wp-image-134\" srcset=\"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/files\/2023\/12\/SARElogo-2.png 624w, https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/files\/2023\/12\/SARElogo-2-300x180.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The role of H-2A foreign labor is assessed as whether it is: mere supplier of incremental\/supplementary workers, optional\/potential competitors of local farm work, or inevitable labor inputs. Based on farm needs, the assessment of the H-2A program patronage trends are analyzed under two scenarios: &nbsp;current program guidelines vs. proposed modifications (e.g., potential cost-effective program alternatives). [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":297,"featured_media":84,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-79","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/79","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/297"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/79\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/79\/revisions\/185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/cattleh2alabor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}