MAKING THE BEST OF A BROKEN SYSTEM
THE NORTH CAROLINA GROWERS ASSOCIATION
In February 2012, ImmigrationWorks held a symposium at the North Carolina Growers Association – a farmers' cooperative that is the nation's largest user of the H-2A agricultural temporary worker program. The goal of the event: to highlight the need for better, more usable channels for foreign workers to enter the U.S. legally to take jobs for which no U.S workers are available. Participants included state agricultural officials, grower association executives and farmers eager to see how NCGA had made the cumbersome, bureaucratic H-2A program workable for members, as well as congressional staffers and policy advocates focused on how to design a better agricultural visa program. The unanimous conclusion at the end of the day: growing farmer demand for a legal agricultural workforce makes it imperative that Congress devise a better program.
SESSION ONE WHY LEGAL IS BETTER THAN ILLEGAL Stan Eury Executive director, North Carolina Growers Association | .jpg) |
(1).jpg) |  | SESSION TWO LEARNED OVER 20 YEARS - WHAT NCGA DOES FOR GROWERS Lee Wicker Deputy director, North Carolina Growers Association Q&A with Tamar Jacoby President, ImmigrationWorks USA |
SESSION THREE HANDLING THE UNION AND LEGAL AID Stan Eury Executive director, North Carolina Growers Association Q&A with Leon Sequeira Partner, Seyfarth Shaw |  |  |
 | SESSION FOUR THE GROWERS' EXPERIENCE A panel of three growers - tobacco, Christmas trees and diverse crops |
SESSION FIVE DESIGNING A BETTER AGRICULTURAL GUEST WORKER PROGRAM |  |
WATCH VIDEO
| EVENT AGENDA |