Growing demand for foreign guest workers and cap on visas has landscapers and seafood processors fretting about labor

Seafood processors, sugar cane millers and landscapers in Louisiana are worried there won't be enough visas available for the foreign seasonal laborers they need in the coming months.

The seafood and sugar industries have long relied on foreign guest workers to staff plants, but federal limits on H-2B visas for temporary immigrant laborers and a tightening U.S. job market have left many employers uncertain if they’ll have enough workers to shuck oysters, peel shrimp, shred sugar cane and even mow lawns.

Graves and Rep. Ralph Abraham, R-Alto, said some benefits programs could be altered so they don't discourage Americans from taking seasonal jobs.

“One of the reasons I support work requirements for SNAP (food stamp) recipients is because no matter who I talk to — foresters, sweet potato farmers, crawfish processors, you name it — they can’t get Americans to go to work,” Abraham said in a statement. “We have a labor force here should be filling these jobs, but right now our (agricultural) producers need these seasonal guest workers to keep their commodities from literally dying in the fields. That would be bad for everyone.”

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