Statement of Rick Roth

before the

Committee on Agriculture of the U.S. House of Representatives

on the Labor Needs of American Agriculture

October 4, 2007

Good morning. My name is Rick Roth. I am a third generation farmer from
Belle Glade, Florida. I have been the president and principal owner of
Roth Farms, Inc. since 1986. I have the most diversified farming
operation in the Everglades Agricultural Area, 800 square miles of rich
organic soils south of Lake Okeechobee. This region of south Florida is
first in the production of sugar, sweet corn, and radishes in the United
States. Our family owns over 4,000 acres, and leases another 1000 acres.
We grow lettuce and leafy vegetables, radishes, sugar cane, sod, sweet
corn, green beans, field grown palm trees, and rice. We employ 55 people
full-time, plus 220 seasonally.

I currently serve on the Board of Directors of the Florida Farm Bureau
(10 years), the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association (21 years), and
Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida (13 years). I am the Vice
President of Florida Farm Bureau, and this is my 7^th^ year of service.

I appreciate the opportunity to explain why we must pass immigration
reform legislation immediately and ask that you share the information
that you learn at this hearing with your colleagues on both sides of the
aisle\... We live in perilous times. We are at war against terrorism. We
must prevent unwanted illegal migration into our country. But, just as
important, we must simultaneously give employers like me the ability to
use legal foreign workers. Why? Because domestic food production is the
other national security issue.

Fruits and vegetables and other labor-intensive crops make up 50% of our
agricultural production today. Foreign born workers will plant,
cultivate, and harvest the crops that make up most of our food supply.
Will they do it here, using our food safety guidelines, or in another
country? Do we want to import labor to fill unwanted farm labor jobs, or
do we import more of our food supply. We already import over 50%.

I live in Florida. When you say Florida, most visitors think Mickey. If
you want to see real world marvels, come to Belle Glade. You will see
high tech agriculture that produces crops year-round, using fewer
nutrients, water, and chemicals per unit of production than anywhere in
the United States. I will personally give you the tour, and my opening
statement will be "welcome to PARADISE".

One of our keys to success in the EAA is our ability to maximize
production with fewer chemicals through crop rotation. Without an
adequate legal labor force, we jeopardize our vegetable industry, which
produces approximately 25,000 acres of sweet corn, 10,000 acres of green
beans, 7,000 acres of lettuce, and 5,000 acres of radishes per year with
an annual value of \$150 million.

Our family farm is one of 50 members who own one of the most successful
cooperatives in this country, Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida.
For the first 30 years of our 45 year existence, we relied primarily on
H2A workers to harvest sugar cane. All the burdensome regulations of the
H-2A program, including farm-worker housing, and higher labor costs make
this program a matter of last resort. The most onerous part of H2A is
farm-worker housing. Due to capital costs, county zoning and permitting,
and negative public opinion, it will take many years for employers to
move to H2A for their labor needs. To use this program, we must have
meaningful reform. But H2A alone is clearly not enough. We must provide
a means for the current experienced agricultural workforce to earn legal
status subject to conditions including a future agricultural work
requirement.

[Such a proposal is essential to solve both the short and long-term
agricultural labor crisis. We need the earned status provisions as a
bridge to greatly expanded use of the H2A program. It will provide the
much needed time to build the housing required of users of the H2A
program and will allow our government to expand its consular offices in
foreign countries so that they can process foreign workers for admission
in a timely manner. Currently, with less than 2% of the agricultural
workforce entering under the H2A program, growers are experiencing
harmful delays in getting their workers in a timely manner to harvest
highly perishable crops.]{.underline}

When we talk about jobs in Florida, we talk about the three-legged
stool: Tourism, agriculture, and construction. Our economy in Florida is
in a recession due to the dramatic increase in housing prices[. New home
sales are at a standstill, and the forecast for over a year is it will
take two years to work our way out of the over-supply. I feel the
impact. Our wholesale sod sales are down 50% from a year
ago]{.underline}. I can not imagine the degree of devastation that will
occur in Florida, but I can assure you we can send the US economy into a
depression if you deny employers access to a legal work force.
Agriculture is not the largest user of seasonal labor; we are just the
most visible.

As I complete my statement I would like to change the focus of my
remarks towards you. In the past, legislation with H-2A reform and
earned adjustment of status provisions has enjoyed broad bipartisan
support. Today, this issue is very emotional and controversial. Thank
God that our founding fathers did not create a true democracy, but
instead a representative form of government. It is your duty to ignore
all the hype and emotion, sift through all the opposing ideas and
options, and come up with a solution that will move this country
forward.

[I play doubles tennis. The winning strategy there also applies here.
"Down the middle, solve the riddle".]{.underline} Thank you for giving
me this opportunity and I would be happy to answer questions later, if
time permits.