By Daniel Gomez
Published: Mar. 7, 2024 at 7:55 PM CST
BUFFALO COUNTY, Wis. (WEAU) – Immigration issues have prompted the Biden administration to explore imposing more restrictions.
If that impacts the H2-A visa program, which allows farmers to hire seasonal workers from other countries, that could impact the industry and its consumers.
It could also make an uphill battle for Wisconsin dairy farmers, harder.
“And dairy is specifically excluded from the H2-A. As it’s written right now,” said John Rosenow.https://81ef9eaf35d6d2e2512ce022534edf61.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html?n=0
He has co-owned Rosenholm Dairy in Cochrane with his wife for decades.
Rosenow said of the 16 full-time employees tending to the cows and chores, 13 of them of immigrants.
“We’ve got 600 milk cows. We milk 24 hours a day. It takes us approximately 55,000 hours a year to get everything done,” said Rosenow.
He had pushed for the H2-A visa program to extend to dairy farms.https://81ef9eaf35d6d2e2512ce022534edf61.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html?n=0
Rosenow took several trips to Washington, D.C., over the years with no results from either side of the aisle.
“My response always is, we have to milk these cows every day on time. We can’t skip a week or so, until we figure it out,” said Rosenow.
Concern about the Biden Administration looking to restrict asylum due to issues at the Southern Border, Rosenow said the thought of any restrictions spilling over to H2-A visa could be bad news for farmers.
“If you took all the immigrant farm workers out of agriculture, there wouldn’t be anything to eat,” said Rosenow.
A leader with the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation said that is because of the strained workforce.
“Decades ago, high schoolers and family members used to provide a stable workforce. That’s just no longer the case. It is the number one issue we hear from members constantly,” said Tyler Wenzlaff, the director of national affairs for the WFBF.
Rosenow said the uphill battle to get seasonal help for dairy farmers goes on for now.
“It’s so contentious. Everyone has their feet planted in the sand,” said Rosenow.https://81ef9eaf35d6d2e2512ce022534edf61.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html?n=0
With little to no resolution on immigration in sight.
According to data from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, dozens of migrants have been employed through the H2-A program in Western Wisconsin in 2022.
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