2024 Farmworker Justice Conference

Citing labor shortages and costs associated with H-2A visas, pork producers, dairies, and other actors in the animal agriculture industry are increasingly turning to TN and J-1 visas to fill a wide range of vacancies in their production. While these programs are ostensibly limited to certain categories of professional work and cultural exchange, respectively, advocates across the country are hearing from TN and J-1 workers who are required to perform manual labor outside of the professional role promised and with no cultural exchange value. In contrast to the H-2A program, there is little government oversight of J-1 and TN programs--and the animal agriculture industry is actively lobbying for what little oversight exists to be further degraded.