[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 157 (Wednesday, September 28, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H8126-H8127]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FARM OVERTIME WAGE THRESHOLD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
New York (Ms. Tenney) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight a looming 
catastrophe for New York farmers, farmworkers, and consumers across New 
York State and the country.
  On September 6, the New York State Farm Laborers Wage Board voted to 
advance a proposal to lower the State's overtime wage threshold for 
farm laborers from 60 to 40 hours per week, despite overwhelming 
opposition to the recommendation.
  During the public comment period, farmers, farmworkers, and consumers 
all turned out in droves to oppose the recommendation. Farmers, who are 
struggling with inflation already, are now very worried about keeping 
up with yet another price hike. Farmworkers are gravely concerned about 
the possible lost hours on the job, cutting their wages. Consumers 
should fear even higher increases to food costs, which have already 
increased 11.4 percent over the last year, the biggest increase since 
1979, with prices continuing to go up.
  Their fears are real. Cornell University's College of Agriculture and 
Life Sciences projected that the overtime rule's implementation could 
force two-thirds of dairy farmers to make significant changes to their 
operations, including, and dramatically bad, leaving the industry or 
investing in other States.
  New York State already leads the Nation in the highest out-migration 
of people and jobs. This would be a disaster for our agricultural 
community.
  Cornell University Ag Sciences also found that half of New York's 
fruit and vegetable farmers likely would have to reduce operations or 
leave the industry altogether. The second largest apple-producing 
county in the entire Nation is Wayne County, located in upstate New 
York.
  Despite all this, the board still voted to advance the recommendation 
anyway. We are incredibly disappointed that the board ignored such 
compelling input from important stakeholders, worsening the already 
difficult headwinds for New York's agriculture industry. The board 
ultimately decided to undermine the very industry and workers they are 
supposed to be serving.
  This week, I joined upstate farmers for a roundtable discussion 
hosted by Dale Hemminger and his son, Clay, at Hemdale Farms in Seneca 
Castle, New York. The feedback from the farmers was unanimous: Lowering 
the overtime threshold will devastate New York's agricultural industry 
and have a critically difficult impact on the future of family farms in 
New York and could leave New York as one of the few States in the 
country with such an onerous and unreasonable restriction on family 
farms.
  Family farms, large and small, are the lifeblood of New York's 
economy. Everyone thinks it is New York City. It is actually 
agriculture.
  Now, the recommendation is with the State labor commissioner, Roberta 
Reardon. I have and continue to urge her to reject this change and 
maintain the current 60-hour threshold. New York family farms and 
consumers simply cannot bear any further price increases.
  I have also joined my other New York colleagues, Representatives 
Elise

[[Page H8127]]

Stefanik and Chris Jacobs, in introducing legislation in Congress known 
as the Protect Local Farms Act to stop this misguided policy from 
taking effect.
  If there are no farms, there will be no nutritious food to feed our 
State, our Nation, and, yes, the world, as we face a potential food 
shortage worldwide.

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