Colorado farmers blast regulations, lack of workers

Onerous federal regulations, including the move to block immigrants, represent the biggest impediment to America's agriculture business, Colorado farmers recently told Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner.

In a letter responding to Gardner's request for input from the state's agricultural producers, the Colorado Farm Bureau said the nation’s agricultural industry faces a critical shortage of workers every year, “as citizens are largely unwilling to engage in these rigorous activities.”

The organization also claims that the guest-worker programs currently in place are unable to meet the market's need for farm help.

The bureau is calling for the agricultural worker visa program to continue to allow limitless numbers of non-resident workers to serve the farm industry. It also supports a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who have agricultural skills.

The bureau, which represents approximately 25,000 farmers and ranchers, also is asking for the repeal of the 2015 United States Army and Environmental Protection Agency’s 2015 Clean Water Rule and the Stream Protection Rule from the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.

The bureau wants Congress to amend the Clean Water Act “to reaffirm that it applies only to traditionally defined navigable, interstate waters and to specifically limit future agency action to expand waters under their jurisdictional authority without the consent of Congress.”