WISTV: Midlands peach farmer urges Congress to pass reform for immigrant employees

On Titan Farms in Ridge Spring, between thousands of rows of blossoming peach trees, are dozens of migrant workers with pruning shears. There’s a lot of work to do on the second largest peach farm in the country.

“They work with open hearts seven days a week, and they never complain about anything,” said overseer Amancio Palma. “We grow peaches, we grow broccoli, bell peppers, a little bit of eggplant.”

Palma is from Mexico and most of the workers he supervises are, too.

“We go by the rules. Everything we do is by the book. We don’t do anything illegal,” Palma said.

The workers are here legally because Titan Farms participates in what’s called the H2-A program – a program that’s sometimes costly and complicated.

“The H2-A program is a guest worker program for temporary agriculture workers where if you don’t have American workers – domestic workers – that are willing and able to do the job.The government will give you a visa to go bring foreign workers in for a specified period of time – no more than ten months at a time. They can come in, work, and then go back home,” said Titan Farms President and CEO Chalmers Carr. “We have about 85 full time workers, and we’ll bring in about 670 guest workers, you know, throughout the season.”

Read the full story from WISTV: “Midlands peach farmer urges Congress to pass reform for immigrant employees“