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Tifton, GA – Some South Georgia farmers are having a tough time finding local and migrant workers, which some blame on the new immigration law.

“It’s been a tremendous drop in the amount of workers we have state of Georgia. We’ve also had a $140 million dollar loss last year because of the loss of workers,” said farmer Bill Brim.

Under the new law, employers with 500 or more employees will have to use a federal database called E-Verify to check the employment eligibility.

That puts farmers like Brim in a bind, who now have to rely on an assistance program called H-2A.

The H-2A program allows agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring nonimmigrant foreign workers to the U.S.

Farmers say they want domestic labor, but most domestic workers aren’t prepared for the strenuous duties.

“If they are physically able to do it then we’re glad to hire them. We don’t mind hiring domestics. We like hiring domestics because it’s less money for us to bring people over from Mexico, but they have to be productive workers for us to hire them,” said Brim.

Brim and other farmers say they have been in contact with state lawmakers to improve the assistance program because if not the state will see a trickledown effect.

“Some are planting less crops and that affects a lot of people because now the John Deere dealership doesn’t sell as many tractors, the seed dealers don’t sell as many seeds, there’s less demand for fertilizer so when the farmer cuts back on the product they produce because they can’t find enough workers to harvest that, It affects everybody,” said the President of AgWorks H2 Dan Bremer

Farmers just want something to happen soon not only for the sake of their farm but the community as a whole.

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