Gov. Kathy Hochul’s call to expedite work permits for new migrants to work on farms has some in the agriculture industry worried about the migrants having the right skillset.
Hochul said this week that there are more than 5,000 jobs in agriculture in upstate New York.
“The cows don’t wait to be milk, the plants need to be maintained and harvested in a few months,” Hochul said.
Kim Skellie, an owner of El-Vi dairy in Newark, and the new migrants could help widen the pool of applicants, but only if they have needed skillsets to work on the farm.
“We like to hire people who have the proper identification, but also come with some skillset and work ethic for work on the farm. We do train, but it takes some level of skill to work on a farm,” he said.
Skellie said their farm hasn’t seen struggles with labor shortages, but others have.
“It’s been tough, Americans have shied away from the more physically demanding farm labor, so we have had to rely on foreign laborers,” he said. “The H-2A program is for seasonal workers, which really isn’t what dairy is so there are dairy farms struggling to find laborers.”
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/news/2023/05/26/farmers-say-newer-migrants-may-help-ease-labor-shortages-but-only-with-right-skillset-