ALACHUA, Fla. (WCJB) -An Alachua County farmer says delays in the federal H-2A visa program have put his winter harvest and more than a million dollars’ worth of crops on the line.

Steven Davis, a family farmer in Alachua, normally brings in about 40 seasonal workers through the H-2A program each year and hopes to get at least 30. This season, he says the workers’ paperwork has been stuck for weeks, even though his labor contractor filed the petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in late October or early November.

“Really it’s a lot over my head, to be honest with you,” Davis said. “A lot of people tend to think that I could run off and hire American workers down the road or whatever. That’s out of the question, they don’t do this kind of work, it’s just not a reality.”

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