A reliable workforce continues to be a No. 1 challenge across all sectors of agriculture, and dairy is no exception.
Karen Gefvert, chief policy officer for Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative and The Voice of Milk, says the issue has weighed on dairy farmers for decades.
“Anytime I talk to dairy farmers, what we hear is labor,” Gefvert says. “They need a reliable, safe workforce. And that’s something that we from the dairy industry have been advocating for for 40 years.”
She explains the problem lies in the current immigration and visa system. Dairy farms require year-round labor, but the only federal program that could help, the H-2A visa, is restricted to seasonal work and specifically excludes dairy operations.
“A seasonal labor force does not work,” Gefvert says.
Edge has been advocating for changes to the H-2A program to make it accessible for dairy producers. A recent House Agriculture Committee working group on ag labor identified 15 provisions to support a comprehensive labor package, including year-round visa access for dairy workers. But with Congress focused on government funding issues, progress has stalled.
Gefvert says the dairy industry may need to pursue multiple paths to fill workforce gaps, including the creation of a dairy-specific visa program.
“What’s the worst that can happen? That we get both of them to succeed? That sounds like a great problem to have,” she says.
For now, the labor shortage remains.
“I don’t think I’ve talked to a dairy farmer who has a full workforce. And we have farmers that… have workers on their farm that have been there for 20, 25 years. These are great-paying jobs; these are stable jobs. These are jobs where family comes in and they integrate themselves into the community,” Gefvert says. “But unfortunately, we just don’t have enough.”
