Recommendations for Program Improvement - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 195

are more capable of responding to the changing needs of affected worker popula-
tions. AFF Program staff should be continually informed about labor law affecting
the AFF workforce, such as child labor. The “Farm Bill”, emerging immigration
policies, and trade policies are especially relevant for AFF Program staff.
The Farm Bill
The expected 2008 reauthorization of the Food, Conservation, and Energy
Act, colloquially known as the Farm Bill, will contribute to shaping the economic
climate in which agricultural businesses make production decisions. Federal farm
support programs dictate the types of commodities that receive federal payments
and thus shape the landscape of plantings, and these shifts in crop plantings can
alter the farm labor market. Strong interest in biofuels production has already al-
tered cropping patterns in broad swaths of the Midwest and High Plains. That will
probably result in changes in the design and use of and the demand for agricultural
equipment and in the development of a rural trucking industry, and thereby change
worker exposures.
Immigration Policies
Of immediate concern is Congress's failure to enact comprehensive immigra-
tion reform. Immigrants make up a large fraction of hired AFF workers. The De-
partment of Homeland Security recently promulgated new regulations requiring
employers to dismiss employees who are unable to prove their legal status; such
dismissals would be based on “no-match” findings of name and Social Security
number in federal records. Enforcement of the regulation has been stayed by court
order under litigation brought by a number of labor organizations and the Ameri-
can Civil Liberties Union. Farm employers now face the difficult challenge of prov-
ing that their hired workers are eligible to work in the United States or recruiting
persons who are eligible. Many farm employers will probably turn to the existing
H-2A visa program for recruiting and hiring contract laborers from Mexico, Cen-
tral America, and Asia. Under current rules, H-2A visa holders will not be permitted
to have family members accompany them while working in the United States, and
employers will be required to provide housing and transportation costs.
Immigration patterns can also affect worker health. A relatively small propor-
tion of immigrant workers may carry diseases that are endemic in their regions
of origin (Asia, Africa, Central and South America, and other places), such as
tuberculosis and parasitic diseases, and thereby pose a potential health threat to
other workers and possibly to the public at large. Other issues have an even greater
impact, such as language barriers, ethnically driven social constructs, and policy
shifts at the federal level.