New rules from the Department of Labor will require anyone who wants to hire foreign farm workers through the h2a program to pay a higher wage and to prove that they looked for qualified U.S. citizens to fill those jobs.

The Department of Labor has announced new rules for temporary foreign farm workers.  It’s the third time the rules have changed in the past 15 months. According to Ron Gaskill, a labor specialist with the American Farm Bureau it’s right to require that jobs go first to u.s. citizens, but the new requirements will make it even more difficult for farmers to find the workers they need. “Employers are going to have a program that’s more difficult than ever to administer.  It’s going to be more expensive than ever and consequently we expect to see the program used far less.  It’s incredibly unrealistic.  It just doesn’t make sense.  The administration and congress have completely overestimated the willingness of domestic workers to take farm jobs.  People don’t want to work on farms.  It's physically-demanding, all-weather work.  It’s very, very difficult.  In agriculture there has been a deficit of workers. even in current times of economic hardship, farmers are finding it increasingly difficult to find employees who are capable and willing to do the kind of work that farm jobs require.”

 What about an Idaho connection in all of this.  There’s an anonymous e-mail sent to Rep. Ken Andrus and a web site posting on a local Tea Party site criticizing Andrus’ part in scuttling a house bill that could revoke an employer’s business license up to one year for employing persons illegally in the U.S.