New Georgia immigration law

costs state ag $300 million

What can happen to agriculture if immigration concerns aren't addressed is not a pretty picture. Everett Williams, president of Georgia Milk Producers, Inc., explained what can happen at a session sponsored by the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin (PDPW) in Madison. (See related story on immigration panel on A6.)

Williams explained that the Georgia Milk Producers is a producer-funded group - producers pay one cent per hundredweight for programs on communication, promotion and education on dairy issues - all governed by a 16-member board of dairy producers.

"Georgia Milk's main objective is to educate dairymen and governing officials on all issues such as legislation, environmental regulations, animal health and milk pricing, federal orders that affect Georgia's dairy industry," he said.

One of those issues is immigration.

Georgia is now one of the most restrictive states with regard to immigration policy, Williams said, As a result of that new law, he said, over 100,000 agriculture jobs have not been filled in the state.

Workers flocked out of the state in May 2011 when Georgia enacted its Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act, he said. The law mandates that employers use an electronic verification system to check on the status of workers and includes harsh penalties for undocumented workers who try to get jobs. The law would charge them with "aggravated identity fraud" for using fictitious papers for the purpose of getting a job. That charge carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, according to Williams.

The law also authorizes police to profile people in traffic stops and ask for immigration status, but those provisions were put on hold by a federal court injunction.

The new law also calls for the state Department of Agriculture to study the federal guest worker program and report back to the Georgia General Assembly by Jan. 1 in the hope of forcing Congress to take some action.

Immediately upon the signing of the bill, workers fled the state, Williams said, and Georgia agribusiness reported immediate labor shortages. Up to 11,000 positions went unfilled in June alone, he said. The governor tried filling those positions with probationers, but reports from farmers showed that most often those workers left the fields on the first day because they couldn't take the heat or physical requirements of the job, Williams said.

"Georgia agribusiness councils report that the immediate impact from HB 87 in the summer of 2011 was $300 million," he said. In many cases blueberries, Vidalia onions and other labor-intensive crops rotted in the fields, he said.

The University of Georgia's Center for Agribusiness recently completed a survey analyzing data from seven crops, representing nearly 47 percentage of the acreage available for harvest in the state, Williams said. The survey showed that growers experienced labor losses in the spring and summer of 2011 that represented over 80 percent of the production acreage.

The total loss at the farm gate that was attributed to the labor shortage for just seven crops totaled $140 million. Blueberries showed the largest loss with $29 million due to the loss of labor. Others included Vidalia onions at $16 million, bell peppers at $15 million and cucumbers at nearly $6.

In a normal year, growers said they would need 12,900 people to harvest their crops. This past summer they reported a shortage of 40 percent in their harvesting crews, he said.



Survey results

Williams said Georgia Milk Producers surveyed 75 dairy farms, representing 51,114 dairy cows, to gather some information on immigrant workers. (There are 255 dairy farms in Georgia with about 80,000 cows.)

Twenty-seven farms in the survey (representing 4,700 cows) said they had no immigrant workers, but 48 dairies said they had anywhere from one to eight or more immigrant workers on their farms. Forty of the farmers said they are able to find replacements to fill open positions on their farms, but 35 said they couldn't find enough available workers.

When asked if they could continue to operate their farms without immigrant workers, 33 said they could and 42 said no, representing about 44,200 cows, Williams said.

"Local people wouldn't ever apply for jobs like these," he explained. "The message we found was that dairies with 87 percent of the cows say they cannot operate without immigrant workers.

"You may do away with these workers but you're going to do away with these businesses as well," he added.

Everett's parents started his family dairy farm in 1958 and today he and his wife, Carol, own it. It has grown from 60 cows to 1,200 cows and several of their kids are involved in running the operation, he said.

The losses involved for agriculture after the passage of the immigration law and the moral questions it has raised make his "blood boil," Williams said. For the people who say we should "ship them back" he wonders how we are supposed to replace them.

A friend of his in Georgia has had immigrant workers for many years on his farm and those workers were concerned they couldn't stay. They came and asked the farm owners if they would adopt the farm worker's three children so they wouldn't be deported.

Williams said there is a moral and legal question about whether authorities should be able to deport American citizens just because their parents are illegal.

"Producers need to do a better job of educating the public on this issue," Williams said.

He added that agriculture coalitions must join other businesses that are impacted by the immigration laws to strengthen each others' voices and have an impact on future legislation.

"Federal guest worker programs will be needed for the dairy industry to address needs for reliable, skilled workers," he told the PDPW audience.