July 2011 Issue

H-2A provides dedicated workers

But recent rule changes made the program more expensive.

Female H-2A workers do the sorting at Titan Farms, enforcing a high quality standard that assures loads won’t be rejected. Richard Lehnert Titan Farms has used H-2A foreign guest workers for 13 years, but rule changes to the program this year have been troublesome. In 2010, growers paid $7.25 an hour to hire H-2A workers, and that was based on prevailing wages in similar jobs in the fruit industry in South Carolina and Georgia. Last year, the rules were changed to base the rate on wages paid in all agricultural jobs in a three-state region.“We’ve still got to figure out […]

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July 1, 2011

Richard Lehnert

After growing up on a Michigan dairy farm, Richard Lehnert began writing about farming in 1962, while still a junior studying journalism at Michigan State University. He worked at newspapers for a year before joining the staff of Michigan Farmer, where he spent 26 years, the last 15 as chief editor. He was a member of the staff of Good Fruit Grower from 2010 until 2015. Read his stories: Story Index

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