{"id":17594,"date":"2018-09-11T12:42:50","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T16:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=17594"},"modified":"2018-12-28T09:57:19","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T14:57:19","slug":"washington-state-farmers-growing-reliance-on-cheap-labor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2018\/09\/11\/washington-state-farmers-growing-reliance-on-cheap-labor\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington State Farmers Growing Reliance On Cheap Labor"},"content":{"rendered":"
The number of applications for agricultural worker visas in the State of Washington is rapidly increasing. H-2A applications have surged in the state by more than 1,000 percent<\/a> in the past ten years. Farmers claim this is because there isn\u2019t enough labor in the United States to supply their farms.<\/p>\n “The American consumer has to answer one question,” said farm owner Rob Valicoff, according to UPI. “Do you want foreign workers producing your food in America, or do you want food that’s just foreign?”<\/p>\n Mr. Valicoff ignores one important question that he and other farmers should be answering. Why are Americans declining to work on your farms?<\/p>\n Americans look for jobs that will pay them enough to support themselves and their families. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator<\/a>, Washington has one of the highest costs of living outside of the Northeast. Adults need to earn at least $17 per hour to support the average family. However, farmhands make much less than that in the state.<\/p>\n