United States House of Representatives

Agriculture Committee

Hearing on the Labor Needs of Agriculture

October 4, 2007

Statement of:

# Randy Mouw

Dairy Producer

Ontario, California

Good afternoon Chairman Peterson, Ranking Member Goodlatte and Members
of the House Agriculture Committee. I want to thank you for holding this
hearing to look into the labor needs on our nation's farms and ranches.
While I'm told we are not here to take an in-depth look at any specific
legislation, I am happy to be here to add my voice to those calling for
a federal legislative solution to the single most difficult challenge
facing food production in this country today.

My name is Randy Mouw. My wife Rose and I milk 1400 cows in Ontario,
California with 17 employees. One of our sons started his own dairy two
years ago and another son is the assistant manager on our dairy. I am
here today on behalf of Western United Dairymen, which represents more
than 1,100 of the 1,800 dairy families in the state of California; my
cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America, which markets one-third of the
milk in the U.S. and has Member producers in 48 states; and National
Milk Producers Federation, which represents dairy producers and the
cooperatives they collectively own. NMPF member cooperatives, including
DFA, market about 70% of the milk in the country.

The availability of labor on this country's dairy farms is critical to
those in our industry, but it has far wider implications for so many
other sectors of the economy. Large herds or small, and in all parts of
the country, dairies are family owned and operated, but additional labor
is a must. Dairy farming is labor intensive and well trained outside
labor is a necessity on most farms.

All of the organizations I mentioned earlier are part of the Agriculture
Coalition for Immigration Reform, the broader-based coalition that has
been seeking a fair, sensible and workable program to provide labor to
our nation's farmers and ranchers before it becomes a crisis. Like the
Coalition, I believe this issue is about border security, food security,
labor force security and economic security.

Immigration reform is a must for U.S. agriculture because I can tell you
from my own experience that not one person who has walked on my dairy
looking for work in the past five years is a person who was born in this
country. And based on my conversations with other dairymen, they will
tell you the same story.

This is not a matter of cheap labor, either. I would invite any Member
of Congress who believes that to come and walk just a day in my shoes.
The jobs on my dairy are year-round, relatively high paying and we
provide a number of benefits including -- health care, bonuses, and
opportunities for advancement. No, it's not a matter of us wanting cheap
labor -- it is a matter of us having any labor at all.

Let me add here early and emphatically that I am a strong supporter of
more effective border security as is every other dairy farmer I know.
People should not be coming to this country illegally. But the fact is
people are coming to this country, sometimes legally, sometimes not, in
search of an opportunity for a better life. And ordinary U.S. citizens,
including small businessmen like me, cannot be put in the position of
being made "la migre," or the "immigration police," responsible for
sorting the real documents from the fake ones. It is the responsibility
of the Congress to find politically viable solutions and enact them.

The farmers I know would also like to see recognition by the Congress
that this is nothing less than a food security issue for our country.
The headlines of the day tell us we're too dependent on other countries
for oil; we don't want to go down the road of being food dependent as
well. Sure, our food can be produced elsewhere. The question is why
would we make that choice? We also read about outsourcing, and jobs
leaving this country. I have already been asked to relocate to China,
with my business. Without sensible immigration reform, the outsourcing
of our food production and processing is a very real possibility. Is
that what consumers really want?

By all accounts border and port agents inspect only a very small
percentage of food shipments coming into this country while every tanker
load of milk I ship is tested and every animal I sell is inspected for
safety and quality. Consumers can take a great amount of reassurance
from so rigorous a system.

Farmers all across the country have supported several attempts by the
Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform. For many reasons,
that has not happened. I am here today to join with other witnesses at
this hearing to encourage the Congress to enact what is achievable -- to
improve labor force security by providing a sensible, fair and workable
program for a legal immigrant agricultural workforce.

Jobs on dairies are year-round. You have doubtless heard this before but
I must say it again -- the H2A program does not work for dairy. Like
many dairymen, I milk my cows three times per day. That means there is a
harvest on my farm three times a day 365 days a year, weekends and
holidays included. The H2A program, on top of all the issues others have
raised about it here today, requires both the worker and the job to be
seasonal and temporary. We gave up seasonal dairying in this country 50
years ago and that is part of why we are the most competitive volume
milk producing country in the world.

Something else we gave up in this country many years ago is asking job
applicants certain questions because of what they look like. I don't
know the residency status of my workers because our anti-discrimination
laws prevent me from asking. Let's not return to those bad old days now.

For dairy, there are three key principles that must be included in a
legislative solution: 1) an affordable and efficient guest worker
program that ensures the continued availability of immigrant labor for
all of agriculture, including dairies; 2) a provision that allows those
currently employed or with recent employment history in the U.S. to earn
the right to work here legally, regardless of their current legal
status; and 3) a provision that specifies the responsibility for
ultimate verification of the legal status of a worker lies with the
government, not with employers.

I have workers at my dairy who have been with me for more than 15 years.
In addition to enjoying relatively high paying year-round jobs with some
benefits, many of them perform work that requires a significant amount
of training and skill. The cows must be well cared for or my milk
quality suffers and my culling rate goes up, both with negative effects
on my bottom line. And mechanization is not an option for all jobs on
dairies. Cows must be monitored at calving and young calves need
specific kinds of care. Robotic milking machines may work for some
operations but the technology still needs to be perfected and the cost
to purchase and install them must come down significantly for them to be
a viable option on a large dairy.

Milk is also one of the most perishable foods produced in this country.
It cannot be stored for long periods on the farm awaiting a better price
or labor to harvest it. The jobs on my dairy, working with cows and
equipment, are not for amateurs. Well-trained workers are simply a
necessity on my dairy and nearly all other dairies in the country every
day of the year. Farms also provide open space. That is very important
in my part of southern California. When a dairy farm goes out, houses
and parking lots come in.

Milk production in California is the largest sector of the largest
industry in the state. It had a farmgate value last year of nearly \$5
billion and contributes \$47.4 billion and 434,000 jobs to the
California economy. Average herd size in California is now about 900
cows. Our dairy farms are large because there is a large population to
supply. And farmland is expensive so economies of scale are the rule
instead of the exception. Producing a lot of milk is a necessity in
order to cash flow the cost of the land, not to mention the cost of all
of that corn that California dairy farmers buy from the Midwest each
day. That all adds up to the need for outside labor. But people who were
born in this country do not seem to be interested in jobs on dairy farms
so dairymen have turned to those who are willing to do this kind of
work.

Some of my employees have been with me for years. It's the same for most
dairymen I know and some of those employees are like family to us. I
have had employees come to me for advice on family issues like how to
deal with certain situations with their kids and when and where to buy
house. Like all families we're dedicated to one thing -- getting the job
done for ourselves and our children.

Thank you again Chairman Peterson, Ranking Member Goodlatte, my
Congressman, Representative Joe Baca, and the other Members of the
Agriculture Committee. No one in the dairy business has set out to break
the law. Dairy farmers need labor and, seeing an unmet need, workers
have come here for an opportunity. What we need now is an enforceable
law that provides a workable solution to this problem this year. Nothing
less than the food security of this nation and the economic health of
rural communities are at stake.