Dairy groups urge members to contact lawmakers to expedite legal ag workforce legislation

EAST EARL, Pa. —For decades, dairy farmers have struggled with labor challenges due to the lack of a legal, year-round migrant workforce program. Congress has yet to pass a viable agricultural workforce modernization act, while shifting federal immigration policies continue to create uncertainty.

In early June, officials signaled an increase in daily migrant detentions from 1800 to 3000, pulling staff from other departments. On June 3, a New Mexico dairy undergoing an I-9 audit was raided by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Agents arrested 11 workers and removed records. Over 20 more employees were later terminated due to no-match Social Security issues, slashing the workforce from 55 to 20 overnight. Staff were reassigned from crop duties to maintain essential milking operations, and the breeding program was put on hold.

Such actions in connection with I-9 Audits that are happening elsewhere too, have heightened concern among dairy producers. Legally, employers cannot challenge documents that appear legitimate, leaving them vulnerable during these audits.

Dairy farms, especially larger ones, emphasize that sudden workforce losses compromise animal care and worker safety. The H-2A visa program only serves seasonal needs, not the year-round demands of dairy operations, which require trained, consistent, and reliable employees.

Without immigration reform, dairy farms risk losing long-time workers who may have overstayed visas or lack proper documentation despite years of reliable service and deep ties to their communities.

President Trump recently acknowledged these concerns, differentiating between recent undocumented migrants and those who have worked here for decades. “We can’t put our farms out of business,” he said, suggesting reputable farmers may be allowed to take responsibility for long-term workers.

“We never want to hurt our farmers, and we don’t want to hurt people that aren’t criminals. At the same time we have to get the criminals out of our country… We have people who came in illegally the past three or three and a half years and we are looking at that very closely. But we also have people who have worked on farms for 20 years. It’s very hard to go in there and say, ‘you’re coming out.’ But we’ll let the farmers take responsibility. They’re great people. They’ll do it, they know the good and the bad,” the President said Friday, June 20th as he exited his plane in New Jersey to answer reporters’ questions on a range of hot topics.

Still, dairy farmers indicate they remain concerned without concrete policy to go with the President’s statements.

Enforcement actions rarely involve advance communication with employers. When agents go directly to the milking parlor without stopping at the office to speak with the owner, compliance is further complicated because workers don’t tend to keep their identification on them while milking.

In response, dairy groups are urging members to contact lawmakers, especially U.S. Senators, to expedite legal ag workforce legislation to allow year-round foreign-born labor. This is not ‘cheap labor’ as entry-level wages are raised when workers are trained and show reliability —but by that time, a seasonal H-2A visa will have expired.

Farmers are also developing plans and working with their peers to contractually and temporarily ‘help each other’ to cover routine milking and animal care if sudden workforce losses occur.

Producers support removing criminals who are in the U.S. illegally, but they emphasize the need for legal solutions for long-term, otherwise law-abiding immigrant workers who are essential to farm operations and may also have U.S.-born children.

On the other hand, some producers see the migrant workforce as facilitating dairy farm expansions, believing this is what puts smaller farms out of business.

The statistics, however, show that both are at risk — the numbers of both the self-employed family farm workers taking care of their own animals and the hired farm workers taking care of animals on larger farms are declining.

 It is not just the large farms relying on employees. By today’s standards, a 200 to 2000-cow dairy is also ‘small’ relative to the very large 3000 to 30,000 cow dairies in operation today. Those multi-generational 200 to 2000-cow dairies are typically not small enough to operate on only family labor. They also tend to have full-time milking schedules, not part-time before-and-after-school.

According to 2022 labor data, about 105,000 dairy workers — 51% of them immigrants — were employed on 25% of dairy farms representing 80% of U.S. milk production. This is down from over 150,000 in 2014, reflecting broader declines in both the number of dairy farms and dairy farmworkers.

The USDA Economic Research Service’s latest reports show that the numbers for both self-employed family farmworkers and hired farmworkers continue to decline. As dairy farms consolidate, they rely more heavily on hired labor, making a stable, legal workforce critical.

The 2022 Ag Census revealed a 40% drop in U.S. dairy farms — the steepest in any 5-year period. With the average farmer age now 58, generational transition is vital. To remain viable, family dairy farms often expand or diversify, requiring more skilled labor.