Eury was familiar with the H-2A guest worker program, formalized in 1986, from his previous work as a former state labor department official,[2] a job he lost due to illicit cannabis cultivation.
[3] In 1990, NCGA facilitated their first cohort of 400 visa holders, which more than doubled the previous year's number of guest workers in North Carolina.
[8] Economist Michael Clemens at the Center for Global Development cited data from the NCGA, and also spoke with the association, while doing research on the H-2A visa for a policy paper.
[9] Clemens' paper was released by the Partnership for a New American Economy[10] and blogged about by Michael Bloomberg[11] and separately by Dylan Matthews for the Washington Post.
[2] A 2024 investigation by The Guardian found that NCGA contracts include vague guidelines around kitchen access, with H-2A workers often required to pay for "forced meal plans" with substandard food at excessive prices following their placement at a farm.