Assemblyman Chris Tague (R,C,I-Schoharie) joined other legislators, New York Farm Bureau Board of Directors Vice President Eric Ooms, and farmers from Grow NY Farms today in holding a press conference announcing the delivery of letters from hundreds of farmers to the governor, expressing their concerns regarding the proposed reduction in the farm laborer overtime threshold. There, the farmers provided insight into why a reduction in the overtime threshold would imperil farms throughout the state, including their own.

Farmers expressed concerns that such an overtime restriction is incompatible with realities of farm operations, which are conducted at the mercy of changing weather conditions. Already paying more for labor costs than other out-of-state competitors, a report by Farm Credit East has stated that the total cost of lowering the overtime threshold to 40 hours, coupled with minimum wage increases, would result in a 42% spike in labor costs for these small businesses.

“Working on a farm is not a 9-to-5 job, because plants, animals, and the weather do not operate on anyone’s schedule but their own,” said Tague. “When faced with a storm or an incoming frost, farmers have no choice but to call all hands on deck to respond, no matter how long it takes. Farms operate on razor thin margins, and farmers often forego paychecks themselves to keep their businesses afloat. While farmers of course want to take care of their workers, providing overtime at a 40-hour threshold just isn’t feasible.”

Farmers and legislators also made the point that if farms are pushed into closing by an overtime threshold reduction, the efforts to improve the lives of farm workers will have been for nothing.

“Farm workers are the reason we have fresh meat, dairy, and produce in our grocery stores, but if we lose the farms that give laborers work, we will have only hurt them and their families,” said Tague. “When drafting agricultural policy we need to remember that farming is a business unlike any other, in which farmers compete in a global marketplace. If this proposal becomes law, we will see a loss of labor and economic activity to other states that respect how agribusinesses operate in the real world.”