The New York State Department of Labor announced Wednesday plans to hold public hearings next month on the effect of lowering the threshold for overtime pay for farmworkers in the state. 

The announcement of the hearings likely means the pitched debate over the issue will continue into next year. 

The hearings, to be held virtually, will be held on Jan. 4, Jan. 18 and Jan. 20. 

At issue is lowering the threshold at which farmworkers in New York would qualify for overtime pay from 60 hours a week to 40 hours. Progressive advocacy organizations have urged the threshold to be lowered, arguing farmworkers — many of them seasonal migrants — should be treated like all other workers in the economy. 

But farmers and their allies have pushed back in recent weeks as the Department of Labor's wage board decision was believed to be getting closer this month, saying the lower threshold would hurt family run farms and make agricultural products in New York all the more expensive and scarce.