It’s only March, but Nick Oomen has already spent a lot of time talking about labor in Washington, D.C.
The Oceana County Farm Bureau member’s latest jaunt included a stop at the White House to talk with the Biden administration and meetings with Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, along with multiple other members of Congress.
A fourth-generation specialty crop grower, Oomen was one of five farmers from across the country invited to take part in AFBF’s labor fly-in, joining fellow Farm Bureau members from Arizona, Kansas, Washington, and New York to share their stories with lawmakers.
“The farmer from Washington state was an apple and cherry grower and they're not farming next year,” Oomen said. “They can't afford the wage hike and the returns just aren’t there. They're not getting the money for the apples and cherries that they should be to offset the rise in H-2A costs.”
Like so many other growers, Oomen understands what it means to be forced to make difficult choices due to the ever-skyrocketing Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) associated with H-2A. Michigan’s AEWR rose almost 7% to $18.50 per hour in Michigan at the beginning of the year.
“We grow a lot of asparagus, and that's the one that's going to go first,” he said. “It takes the most hand labor, and labor is our single biggest expense when it comes to raising that crop.”
In February, Oomen traveled along with fellow members of MFB’s Labor Advisory Committee to make a plea to lawmakers to do something to help alleviate the labor crisis farmers are facing.
Oomen said the lawmakers and staff he’s spoken to are aware of the challenges farmers are facing when it comes to labor costs.
“We didn't walk into an office where they weren’t aware or didn't know what H-2A was, didn't know what the adverse effect wage rate was, and weren’t at least somewhat aware of the issues that we were facing,” Oomen said.
But, even with an understanding of how desperate growers are for help — like the AEWR freeze legislation sponsored by Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI) would provide — there’s still serious apathy on Capitol Hill.
“Unfortunately, the comment you get is ‘We understand the issue, but unfortunately, we just don't see anything happening in this Congress,’ or ‘It's just not the right time’ or ‘We’re more concentrated on the border and immigration,’” Oomen added.
Even the recent release of a bipartisan report from the House Committee on Agriculture that spelled out a roadmap for Congress to address key issues with the H-2A program hasn’t been enough.
“There's 15 bullet points there that are unanimously agreed on and you're still sitting there telling me, ‘Now isn’t the right time?’” Oomen said.
“Growers are out of time. This isn't an issue you can kick down the road for two or three or five years. People are going out of business left and right.”
Oomen said the group assembled by AFBF also made sure elected officials were thinking about the national security repercussions of a future where America doesn’t grow its own specialty crops, with dependence of foreign food raising the issue of labor challenges to that of a national security threat.
While Oomen said the impasse in Congress can be frustrating, the stakes are too high for growers and the country to stop advocating.
“I would just encourage anybody to make the phone calls, send the emails, you know, talk to your reps, and just keep pushing on them,” Oomen said.
“The harder we can keep pushing, the more they’re going to have to do something — they can’t avoid that much pressure. So, I encourage anybody to reach out to whoever they can to keep this on the front burner. Let's keep it in front of people.”