Richmond--The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) is currently conducting an Annual Survey on Prevailing Practices in Agricultural Employment through July 8.  The VEC mailed the survey to agricultural operations who hire farm employees in certain target crops and occupations. 

Agricultural employers may also obtain the survey document on the VEC website at https://www.vec.virginia.gov/employers/agricultural-services.  Electronic surveys can be completed in fillable pdf format and sent by email to foreignlaborcert@vec.virginia.gov or submitted by mail to:

Federal regulations governing the use of the H-2A Agricultural Guest Worker Program require the VEC to monitor the hiring practices of agricultural employers.  Data collected in these surveys address common and prevailing practices such as the advanced payment of transportation costs to workers, job qualifications, recruitment methods, frequency of pay, provision of family housing, productivity standards, and the use of farm labor contractors.  The VEC will receive survey responses until July 8, 2022, and will publish survey findings by October 2023.  VEC staff will apply findings to H-2A applications filed in Virginia in FY2023. 

By supplying this data to the VEC, employers can ensure that Virginia’s non-H-2A agricultural employers and its farmworkers are not adversely impacted by the addition of foreign workers to the farm economy. 

###