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Updated: 02/25/2015 10:33 AM Created: 02/25/2015 9:07 AM WNYT.com By: Ben Amey

ALBANY - The immigration debate in Washington, D.C. is also of interest to farmers in New York. They use a lot of migrant labor. The president of the New York Farm Bureau is traveling from Albany to Washington Wednesday to talk to members of Congress.

Dean Norton, president of the New York Farm Bureau, says that immigration reform is the bureaus top legislative priority this year, the same as it was last year. The Farm Bureau supports a flexible visa plan for migrant workers, rather than a plan that supports amnesty or one that solely focuses on enforcement.

An article in the New York Times from a year ago quotes an American Farm Bureau study as saying if an enforcement-only policy was adopted, fruit production could drop up to 60 percent and food prices would increase 5 percent over the next five years.

Part of the flexible visa program would involve the replacement of the season visa to one that would let workers get a three-year visa to work on a farm. The New York Farm Bureau says that without a stable, legal workforce to help work on farms, it will become more difficult to provide food.

Other topics that the farm bureau will discuss with New Yorks congressional delegation include President Obamas immigration executive order, food safety, trade policy, and funding for federal school and local food programs.

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New York Farm Bureau pushes immigration reform