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by Seth Teter

A Senate vote on immigration reform, expected in the coming weeks, may determine if the United States will begin outsourcing billions of dollars worth of food production.

In December, the House passed H.R. 4437, which includes measures to combat illegal immigration such as building a fence along parts of the U.S.-Mexico border and requiring employers to submit workers' Social Security numbers to electronically verify their legal status.

However, the bill does not include a mechanism for employers to obtain foreign workers that fill jobs Americans are often unwilling to take. It also lacks a transition program for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already in the United States, many in agricultural jobs.

"We traditionally think that fruit, vegetable and nursery producers are primarily affected by such issues since they are large users of immigrant and seasonal workers," but the issue is more broad, said John Wargowsky, OFBF director of labor services.

"If enforcement-only immigration reform such as H.R. 4437 becomes law, Ohio agriculture will be devastated due to the inability to secure a legal and willing work force. Every agricultural employer hiring migrant and seasonal workers needs to get active on this issue," he said. "If you are a livestock or poultry producer who hires workers, be aware that such legislation will also affect you."

According to a study by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), failure to include comprehensive guest-worker provisions in any new or reformed immigration law could cause up to $9 billion annually in overall losses to the United States, cutting net farm income by as much as $5 billion. The study says up to one-third of producers would no longer be able to compete and the fruit and vegetable sector as it now exists would disappear.

"We will not stand by while a significant segment of our industry is outsourced to foreign countries," AFBF President Bob Stallman said.

OFBF First Vice President Jeff Zellers, who employs up to 170 seasonal workers on his vegetable farm, said he is concerned how the government will transition to an electronic verification system.

"We've got crops that are exceptionally perishable. I don't have three weeks to wait on some type of government bureaucracy," he said. "If you want us to become policemen for the government, then give me a labor force."

Zellers also believes that enforcement-only legislation will drive illegal immigrants farther underground.

"You're not going to get them to pick up and leave just because you pass a law," he said.

He added that this issue should be important to grain farmers, because the livestock industry -- which is largest market for Ohio grain -- has become more dependent on migrant labor.

OFBF has been educating legislators on the need for agriculture to have access to a legal, foreign work force, said Adam Sharp, the organization's director of national affairs. Farmers can also contact their senators directly through the OFBF Web site at www.ofbf.org.

Sharp said Farm Bureau does not support amnesty for illegal immigrants already in the United States, but "if we ignore the illegal work force that's already here, we're ignoring the problem of illegal immigration."

"What Farm Bureau would be interested in and support is a guest worker program that works efficiently, is fair to both the employer and employee and is also flexible so employers can get employees as needed," he said.

Sharp added that Farm Bureau is a strong proponent border security, but those efforts should go hand in hand with a viable agriculture industry.

"In order to have real immigration reform, we have to deal with border security as well as a workable guest-worker program," he said. "We can build a long wall; we can build a high wall, but illegal workers are going to find their way in because we are a land of opportunity."