Congressman Fred Upton next week will visit a farm in Berrien County to discuss the issue of migrant labor and the difficulties many farms face when trying to hire enough workers for the planting and harvest season. Upton will stop at Russell Costanza Farms in Sodus Township to address the H-2A visa program. It’s a federal program which allows U.S. farmers to bring in temporary labor when enough domestic workers can’t be found for planting and harvesting. Many farmers have complained that the approval process for securing those laborers is too slow because of administrative practices in the U.S. Labor and Homeland Security Departments. Upton will speak at Costanza Farms starting at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, and along with him will be representatives of the National Council of Agricultural Employers, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Michigan and Berrien County Farm Bureaus. Upton says agriculture is the backbone of the southwest Michigan economy, and he wants to “keep the pressure on the Obama Administration to ensure they get their act together and fast.”
