A New York state senator from the Hudson Valley has introduced a bill to help connect job seekers with job opportunities on farms.
Democratic state Senator Jen Metzger’s bill directs New York’s Department of Agriculture and Markets to create an online farm employment portal, and work with the Department of Labor along with agricultural and other organizations in publicizing the portal’s availability statewide. She says people who have been laid off from their jobs in other sectors, and college students who have returned home earlier than expected, may welcome the opportunity to work on a farm. The current shortage of farm labor in New York has been exacerbated by recent disruptions to the federal H-2A agricultural guest worker program as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
