Agriculture

Yuma County produces more than 90 percent of America's leafy vegetables during the winter months, making it the “winter lettuce capital of the world.” Agriculture is the most important segment of the area economy, producing approximately $1 billion or 28.5 percent of the nation's retail lettuce sales each year.

Over the past five years, farmers have faced severe labor shortages. Farm labor shortages in Yuma County have meant increased product  losses and cost the county tax revenue, lost wages and lost productivity.

Across the United States, there are not enough legal agricultural workers to do the pruning, picking, packing, and harvesting work that keeps Arizona and U.S. farms in business. As a result, farms are closing, growers are planting less or switching to other crops, and the production of fresh foods and vegetables is moving abroad.  Between 2007 and 2008, 1.56 million acres of farmland were shut down in the United States -- about twice the size of Delaware.

This is why Rep. Grijalva supports the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security (AgJOBS) Act. This bipartisan legislation would provide agricultural employers with a stable, legal labor force while protecting farmworkers from exploitative working conditions. If enacted, AgJOBS would:

• create an "earned legalization" program enabling many undocumented farmworkers and H-2A guestworkers to earn a "blue card" temporary immigration status with the possibility of becoming permanent residents of the U.S. by continuing to work in agriculture and by meeting additional requirements; and
• revise the existing H-2A temporary foreign agricultural worker program.

Rep. Grijalva believes in a solution that helps the laborers, employers and wider communities of Southern Arizona.