The farm wages overtime threshold could be lowered from 60 to 40 hours a week over the next 10 years, if approved by the state.

In a Jan. 28 vote, the Farm Laborers Wage Board voted 2-1 to recommend reducing the threshold, with a phase-in schedule lowering the threshold by four hours every two years starting in 2024.

The board will meet again to finalize and approve a written report, which will be published for a 15-day public comment period. Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon then has 45 days to consider the resolutions — which she may accept, reject or modify — before making her own recommendation, to be ultimately approved by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The recommendation has been met with disappointment by farmers across the state, including on Long Island. Long Island Wine Country president Kareem Massoud told Times Review the decision is “a lose-lose outcome.”

“The agricultural workers who are supposed to benefit from this decision are going to see their work weeks shortened over the next 10 years,” he said. “Farmers are small business operators and as such they will do whatever they need to do to keep costs down.”

Payroll is the biggest expense on most farms, according to Mr. Massoud. Workers who had been putting in as many as 80 hours a week “not because they were forced to, but because they wanted to generate greater income for themselves and their families are going to come up short,” he said.

“This is not a good outcome. Nor is it a good outcome for farmers who will...

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