ASSOCIATED PRESS

March 3, 2006

Official Cites Seasonal Worker Need

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Friday that any immigration reform legislation should allow migrant workers to come to the United States temporarily to alleviate the shortage of seasonal farm hands.

But he said he would oppose any bill that offers amnesty to illegal immigrants.

The secretary was in California to speak at a convention of the American Soybean Association and the National Corn Growers Association.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is debating national immigration changes and has several competing bills before it. One, sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., would allow illegal workers now in the United States to obtain a three-year work visa that could be renewed one time for another three years.

"From my interest as secretary of agriculture, we just simply have a need for seasonal labor," Johanns told reporters. The question is "how we factor that into a bill so these individuals can be identified and documented and have some ease in terms of providing that labor to the industry," he said.

Without adequate seasonal labor, "there's literally a risk that, especially with fruits and vegetables, we won't be able to harvest them," he said.

The secretary has previously spoken about the need for a temporary guest worker program to alleviate the burden on seasonal growers, who often can't find enough employees to harvest crops.

In January, Johanns said there had been a drop in hired farm labor in California during peak harvest times for the past three years. He also touted President Bush's proposed temporary worker program as a "very streamlined and efficient pipeline to a labor supply" for American farmers.

Tim Chelling, spokesman for the Irvine-based Western Growers, said he was pleased to see Johanns promoting some kind of temporary worker program.

"Throughout the year, we've been warning of a shortage," he said. "If you had a guest worker program, you would go a long way toward solving this potentially devastating crisis."