U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, said she hopes to wrap a proposal to streamline handling of immigrant farm worker visas into discussion of a new farm bill, due in 2018.

“This is an issue that’s been a priority for North Country farmers since I was first campaigning in 2013. It’s a top priority for the New York Farm Bureau,” she said in a telephone interview on Friday.

Earlier this week, Rep. Chris Collins, R-Clarence, and Stefanik jointly re-introduced legislation that now former Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, introduced last session to transfer administration of agriculture worker visas from the Department of Labor to the Department Agriculture.

Gibson did not seek re-election to a new term.

“One of the challenges that I hear frequently from farmers is that the Department of Labor doesn’t have the understanding of agriculture,” Stefanik said.

“The last thing that our farmers need is for the federal government to make it harder for them to make ends meet,” Collins said, in a press release.

Stefanik said she will be contacting members of the House Agriculture Committee, both Republican and Democrat, and urge them to include the legislation in discussion of a new farm bill.

“This is also a bipartisan issue,” she said. “I hope this is a part of those discussions because it has a significant impact on our farmers.