IRVINE, CA - Following the recent introduction of the Affordable and Secure Food Act, Western Growers has issued an industry-wide statement praising this move and outlining the positive impacts it will have on the fresh produce sector and the United States food system.
“We greatly appreciate the leadership and determination demonstrated by Senator Michael Bennet in bringing this bill forward,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Dave Puglia in the statement. “Based on carefully negotiated principles enshrined in the bipartisan House Farm Workforce Modernization Act, the Bennet bill will provide regulated legal status to experienced agricultural workers and make desperately needed improvements to the existing guest worker program to better meet future farm labor needs.”
Puglia continued, noting that this Act could play a vital role in fortifying domestic food supply.
“Approval of the Affordable and Secure Food Act will help ensure a stable, legal agricultural workforce and secure the reliability of our domestically produced food supply,” he said. “The alternative—the deteriorating status quo—is to resign ourselves to food insecurity as we increasingly rely on foreign countries to provide food for our nation. We call on the Senate to take up and pass the Bennet bill in these final days of the lame duck session.”
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