MUSELLA, Ga. — A new federal wage rule increases temporary worker pay in the agriculture industry by 14%, which could mean higher costs for growers, and higher prices for you.
According to Lee Dickey, the co-owner of Dickey Farms, with the H-2A pay increase, his farm is going to have to cut back in different ways.
"Some of it may be doing without, right? OK, we can't install a new irrigation system that we may need," Dickey said.
The result may mean lower production.
"You're not going to pull peach trees out of the ground, but there are farmers of vegetables, other fruits. They're making decisions saying, 'Hey, I don't have 14%,'" he said.
The H-2A program is used to temporarily allow people into the country to work on agriculture jobs.
"I think it's important for so many reasons for us to have more of our own produce and food grown here in America," Dickey said, but he says this pay increase is adding on to other increases such as fertilizer, fuel, and box costs. H-2A workers were making $11.99 per hour. Now, they're making $13.68
"It comes as a surprise, especially when it is that significant. There's just not availability of American workers on that temporary basis. If it was a year-round job, it would be different, but there's a lot of work to do in a short amount of time," Dickey said.
Dickey says during the peak of peach season, they could have anywhere between 70 to 80 temporary workers.
"Peaches and strawberries are very labor intensive, so it takes a lot of manual labor to be able to take care of the trees, prune, harvest. That's all done by hand," he said.
He says in agriculture, he can't increase his prices 20% percent in one year to make up the difference, so farmers are going to take part of the hit.
The new rule went into effect earlier this year, but currently there is bipartisan legislation being led by senator Jon Ossoff and North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis are working to temporarily pause the wage increase for the remainder of 2023.