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H-2A reform keeping steam into 2025

An American Farm Bureau board member for the Midwest Region says he’s encouraged to see the organization elevating labor as a top priority.

Michigan Farm Bureau President Ben LaCross tells Brownfield specialty crop farmers in his state have relied on the H-2A visa guest worker program for more than a decade, but “The returns that our farmers have been getting for their crops hasn’t gone up commensurate with the increasing cost of that program, we’re having farmers who are coming us at this point saying this program is getting too costly,” he says.

The organization plans to study potential alternatives to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate that currently sets what farmers pay seasonal foreign employees in the program.

“We’re looking for better access through the H-2A program and potentially some options that would give our growers access to year-round workers too,” he shares.

The Department of Labor received nearly 20 percent more applications for the first quarter of 2025 asking for more than 66,000 H-2A workers. The program certified nearly 385,000 positions during the 2024 fiscal year, receiving nearly eight percent more applications than in 2023.

Brownfield interviewed LaCross during the recent American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention.