Labor Costs Expected to Rise
From the Ag Information Network, this is today’s Fruit Grower Report. Labor challenges are among some of the most difficult issues facing farmers, especially for those who use the H-2A program.
John Walt Boatright, director of government affairs at the American Farm Bureau Federation, explains …
BOATRIGHT … “The H2A Program is the temporary and seasonal guest worker program that many farms and ranches are increasingly relying on for their farm labor needs. It's set by USDA’s Farm Labor Survey, which is updated annually.”
The Labor Department then uses USDA survey data to calculate the Adverse Effect Wage Rate, but recent increases in the rate have been difficult for farmers …
BOATRIGHT … “It's outpaced inflation eight of the past ten years. It's highly unpredictable from year to year. We've seen increases as high as 23 percent from one year to the next, which is just simply unsustainable given the challenges that we see and the predictability that farmers and ranchers need to be able to make ends meet.”
Boatright says while 2026 rates haven’t been calculated yet, all signs point to another increase in the rate …
BOATRIGHT … “Of farms and ranches who particularly utilize H-2A, it is right that 40 percent of their input costs are associated with labor. I think we can anticipate that a lot of these costs are going to increase as a direct result of that, and that's directly attributable to federal rulemaking that has made it more onerous for small family farms, particularly, to stay afloat.”
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