NASHVILLE, TENN. (RFD NEWS) — Agricultural leaders are again calling on Congress to modernize the H-2A guest worker program, saying rising labor costs and workforce shortages continue to strain farm finances.
American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall says a reliable workforce is essential to producing the nation’s food, fuel and fiber, but argues the current H-2A program no longer meets agriculture’s needs.
“A reliable workforce is essential to producing the food, fuel, and fiber Americans depend on every day,” Duvall said. “Yet many farmers struggle to find the workforce they need, and the current H-2A program does not fully meet the needs of agriculture.”
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson recently introduced legislation to expand the year-round agriculture program while reducing administrative burdens. He says labor costs have risen roughly 70 percent faster than inflation, leaving some producers who once relied on H-2A to stay in business now struggling to afford the program.
“The cost of labor has surpassed inflation by 70%,” Thompson says. “And so, a lot of our farmers, when they first engaged in the program, and even in 1996, would say that it was the h2a program that saved them from bankruptcy. And in 2025-2026, there are a lot of farmers who say today that the cost of the program and the increase in those wages are causing bankruptcy. So the need is significant and the time is right.”
The proposed legislation would:
- Create multi-year labor and housing certifications.
- Limit annual increases to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR).
- Allow H-2A workers to transfer between certified employers.
Dairy producers are also backing the proposal. Rick Naerebout of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association says foreign-born agricultural workers are critical to the industry’s success, warning that losing even half of Idaho’s unauthorized agricultural workforce could eliminate more than 27,000 additional jobs tied to food processing and related industries.
“If you took away just half of those unauthorized workers, that’s about 25,000 individuals, you would also remove an additional 27,000 jobs that Idahoans, American-born Idahoans, fill today,” Naerebout explains. “Because if you don’t have a worker to milk the cow or harvest the crop, you can’t process that commodity into a finished product, so you don’t have all the jobs in food processing.”
Nearebout estimates that removing all foreign-born agricultural workers from Idaho would cost the state more than $5 billion in economic activity and impact over 55,000 jobs.
