USDA and Department of Labor Announce Information Sharing to Assist H-2A Employers
March 21, 2020 
In its continued quest to keep the fresh produce industry (including greenhouse vegetable growers) up to date on how coronavirus is affecting the agriculture workforce, United Fresh recently provided the following updates.
Workers in Food Supply Chain Should Be Essential
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a letter on March 19 that outlines a list of “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers” to help state and local officials as they work to protect their communities, while ensuring continuity of functions critical to public health and safety, as well as economic and national security. What’s notable is that the list includes food and agriculture workers.
“With this statement, we should be able to drive greater national consistency,” says Tom Stenzel, President and CEO of United Fresh.
USDA and Department of Labor Announce Information Sharing to Assist H-2A Employers
United Fresh also applauded the USDA and the Department of Labor for responding to urgent requests to provide flexibility for U.S. farmers utilizing the H-2A program. United Fresh and industry stakeholders have been pressing the Trump administration throughout this crisis to address this issue and ensure that workers are available for produce companies who need H-2A and H-2B workers. Today’s announcement, according to United Fresh, will help facilitate more workers to be available, although “we must still push to accelerate the visa process for those coming from outside the U.S.”
“United Fresh has worked across the supply chain to ensure the integrity of the essential services we’re providing go uninterrupted in these unprecedented times,” Stenzel says. “With this announcement, we’re making incremental progress, but must continue to work hard to ensure that Americans have access to fresh produce, meeting our most critical mission.”
Subscribe to eNewsletter
