# All we want for Christmas is the Farm Workforce Modernization Act

If you’ve been around the agricultural industry for more than ten minutes, you know how challenging the labor landscape has become. “It used to be cost of water, cost of land,” berry grower Manuel Magdeleno explains in the documentary [_The Last Harvest_](http://thelastharvestfilm.com/), “but right now our biggest challenge is labor.”

[$3.1B is lost each year](https://research.newamericaneconomy.org/report/vanishing-breed-decline-u-s-farm-laborers-last-decade-hurt-u-s-economy-slowed-production-american-farms/) as farms are unable to plant, harvest or process their crops due to the labor shortage. Just about every grower I know has a heartbreaking story of having to leave their crops unpicked.

Twenty years ago I was volunteering at a day labor center in Seattle. New people were showing up nearly every day that had recently crossed the border with the help of a coyote or a friend. They would tell me harrowing stories of huddling together in the cold of the desert nights, “aunque somos hombres,” (even though we’re men), nearly dying of thirst during the day, and eating nothing for days but a watermelon rind. The promise of a job doing heavy labor or picking fruit was enough to call people north, in hopes of sending money back home to support their families.

But 20 years later in the US, the combination of stronger border enforcement, [a falling birth rate in Mexico](https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2010/04/22/when-the-ninos-run-out), and a stronger economy in Mexico have led to the flow of new workers lessening to a trickle.

Meanwhile, the millions of folks that got through the porous border decades ago have been faithfully picking our apples in Washington, plucking our chickens in Arkansas and picking our strawberries in California. They’ve had families, raised their kids in the melting pot, and done their best to stay under the radar. With more fear and enforcement lately, some have finally thrown in the towel and taken their families back to a home they haven’t seen in years. Since 2009, [1 million Mexicans have gone home](https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2015/11/19/more-mexicans-leaving-than-coming-to-the-u-s/) with only 840,000 arriving in the US, a net loss of 140,000.

Agriculture lobbyists, farmworker advocates, and immigration advocates have fought tirelessly to bring about common-sense legislation that can address the labor shortage, the legal status of existing farmworkers, and the rigidity of the H2A program. Previous proposals have proven to be too far to the left, too far to the right, or too poorly timed to succeed. But this latest bill, [the Farm Workforce Modernization Act](https://lofgren.house.gov/sites/lofgren.house.gov/files/Farm%20Workforce%20Modernization.pdf), just passed the House with bipartisan support. There is a decent chance of it passing the Senate and being signed into law _if, and only if,_ lawmakers hear from their voters, especially those in red states and counties.

The [new legislation](https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5038) would:

- Allow farmworkers to seek legal status in the US
- Make the H2A program more flexible
- Require e-verify (though thankfully only after providing legal status to existing workers)

Please take 3 minutes to call your Senator at (202) 224-3121 and express your opinion on this important legislation.

_T’was the night before Christmas and all through the House,_  
_There were rumors a-stirring_  
_Of a new bill we all could espouse_ [_Sponsors_](https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/4916/cosponsors?searchResultViewType=expanded) _had sprung_  
_From the left and the right of the Chair_  
_In hopes that a bi-partisan solution_  
_Would finally be here;_  
_Western Growers and UFW nestled all snug in the same bed,_  
_While visions of compromise danced in their heads;_  
_With crops going unpicked and a big labor gap,_  
_Everyone’s been racking their brains, and we built an_ [_app_](/content/site-root.html),_  
_When out in DC there arose such a clatter,_  
_We sprang from our beds to see what was the matter;_  
_Away to phone lines everyone flew in a flash,_  
_To call up their_ [_Senator_](https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm)_ and make them abashed,_  
_If they were to even consider a vote of NO_  
_On the most promising legislation since 30 years ago;_  
_For what to our wondering eyes did appear,_  
_But a more flexible H2A program and workers living without fear;_  
_With H2A applications more streamlined and quick,_  
_We thought for a moment, this must be a trick;_  
_Workers in agriculture, legal status could gain,_  
_For themselves and their spouses and minor children they claim;_  
_Now surely there are parts of the bill that need fixin’_  
_But this bill provides a solution before e-verify would kick in;_  
_To the lady at church! To the farmer with his drawl!_ [_Now call today_](https://www.senate.gov/senators/How_to_correspond_senators.htm)_! Call today! Call today all!_  
_….And we heard it exclaimed by farmers and workers in the night,_  
_Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night._