RICHMOND, Va. — 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:

VEC Foreign Labor Certification Unit
419 N. Cameron St. 2nd Floor
Winchester, VA 22601

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.

Click here to view the survey. 2022 Prevailing Practice Survey – fillable

–Michael Wallace, VDACS