Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for Wagner-Peyser Program (Employment Services)
All Program-Specific Requirements provided for the WIOA core programs in this section must be addressed for either a Unified or Combined State Plan.
e. 3. An assessment of the unique needs of farmworkers means summarizing Migrant and Seasonal Farm Worker (MSFW) characteristics (including if they are predominantly from certain countries, what language(s) they speak, the approximate number of MSFWs in the State during peak season and during low season, and whether they tend to be migrant, seasonal, or year-round farmworkers). This information must take into account data supplied by WIOA Section 167 National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) grantees, other MSFW organizations, employer organizations, and State and/or Federal agency data sources such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Employment and Training Administration
Current Narrative:
(3). An assessment of the unique needs of farmworkers means summarizing Migrant and Seasonal Farm Worker (MSFW) characteristics (including if they are predominantly from certain countries, what language(s) they speak, the approximate number of MSFWs in the State during peak season and during low season, and whether they tend to be migrant, seasonal, or year-round farmworkers). This information must take into account data supplied by WIOA Section 167 National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) grantees, other MSFW organizations, employer organizations, and State and/or Federal agency data sources such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Employment and Training Administration.
Previously, Maryland’s MSFWs largely came from Florida and a few Southern states along the Eastern Seaboard. Florida is no longer listed as a MSFW supply state. Due to hurricane damage to citrus trees, many workers were re-trained in construction. When new citrus was ready for harvest, many workers elected to stay in their training careers rather than return to farmwork. This meant Maryland farmers/growers had to rely more heavily on H2A visas to staff their crop harvests. The H2A population is almost exclusively Latino and Spanish-speaking.
The MSFW population consists of either: (1) long-time migrants who have been picking crops for years; or, (2) persons of various backgrounds who are seeking to be part of an underground economy, which is difficult to trace for various legal reasons. According to 2013 USDOL data, MD Labor certified 640 H2A positions in Maryland, with the top work locations being: Kennedyville in Kent County, Westminster in Carroll County, and Chesapeake City in Cecil County.
In Maryland, the MSFW growing season begins in early to mid-March when nursery workers begin to arrive. Peak season is during July and August for harvesting vegetables including tomatoes, cantaloupes, and melons. The harvest season concludes with the fall apple harvests, mostly in the Cumberland Valley of Western Maryland. Despite a declining number of family farms overall, data from the Maryland Department of Agriculture suggest that the vast majority of Maryland farms continue to be family farms that do not employ outside labor.
Maryland farms are mostly settled in pockets, maintained by Amish and Moravian families, who are known to rely only on the labor of family and friends. Both the number of farms employing MSFWs and the number of Migrant and Seasonal Workers who are employed have annually declined. Maryland estimates that fewer than 1,000 MSFWs are employed in the State’s agricultural fields during the growing season. During the winter months, from December through February, virtually no MSFWs are employed in the State.