Editor's Note: During the next few weeks, DTN will publish a series of stories focusing on ag labor challenges and solutions. Most of the stories first appeared in the Progressive Farmer Summer issue, "Labor Pains." Our online series will also include bonus content that didn't appear in the magazine.

Today's story looks at U.S. agriculture's increasing reliance on foreign labor and issues surrounding the H-2A guest worker program.

**

American agriculture is withering due to a severe shortage of workers, said John Boelts, a Yuma, Arizona, farmer and president of the Arizona Farm Bureau.

"We do not have the workers. We simply don't have the workers. American agriculture is withering on the vine due to a lack of workers," Boelts said.

For years, farm groups have sought to legalize roughly 1 million undocumented farmworkers and reform the 40-year-old H-2A guest worker program, a process many describe as expensive, complicated and out of step with modern farm needs.

"Congress has artificially controlled our ability to legally hire," Boelts said. "We have to go through the H-2A program, which is literally a program designed in 1986 by labor unions not to work. It was designed to be very expensive and to protect the American worker. So, it doesn't really work for American agriculture, but it's all we got until there's something better."

Farmers nationally employ about 1.2 million workers overall, and it has been estimated that anywhere from 50% to 70% of those workers are undocumented or using false documents. About 90% of all farmworkers come from Mexico.

Where Boelts farms near the Mexican border, H-2A workers make up about 8,000 farm laborers out of an agricultural workforce of close to 50,000. There are another 12,000 to 15,000 workers who cross the border daily from Mexico to work on area farms, he said.

Yet, more farmers each year find themselves forced to turn to H-2A workers.

For many American farms, learning the rites of passage of the H-2A program has become one of their only means for ensuring they have reliable, legal workers. Despite a laundry list of complications and problems -- such as more than 3,000 pages of new regulations under the Biden administration -- even smaller farmers are relying on the H-2A program to fill their labor needs.

FARMS FIND VALUE IN FOREIGN LABOR

Steve Bowlin told the story about how his farm began marketing fruits and vegetables outside of Olathe, Kansas, 15 years ago.

"This whole thing started because we had too much in the garden one year," Bowlin said. "We found out quickly that the desire for fresh local produce is on the rise."

Bowlin's farm grows watermelons, cucumbers, pumpkins and tomatoes, as well as hanging baskets for local stores and other retailers as part of The Kansas City Food Hub.

Age, however, eventually led Bowlin to look for professional labor to help his farm four years ago. He's had two H-2A guest workers from Mexico ever since. "I'm 68, and the rest of my crew was older, and we couldn't find any kids who wanted to work or could work. Kids just don't have the work ethic these two have. If we were going to continue to grow, we had to bring in some workers."

Bowlin works with a law firm out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, that helps farmers navigate the H-2A program.

There can be language barriers, but Bowlin described how his workers have taught him a thing or two about being more productive. In a greenhouse this year, Bowlin changed to growing cucumbers vertically on wires. "They do it that way in Mexico, and they showed us some pictures, and they (cucumbers) come out straight as an arrow," Bowlin said. "These guys bring knowledge to the table. We are learning from them every day."

Like a lot of farmers, Bowlin is thrilled with the workers themselves, but the cost of the H-2A program is catching up with him.

"If it wasn't for them (H-2A workers), we'd be in deep trouble, but they are about to price me out of the market -- the government is," Bowlin said.

CONTRACTORS HELP NAVIGATE MYRIAD RULES

H-2A places a lot of demand on farm employers. They are required to provide transportation for workers to get their visas. For most Mexican workers, that means a trip to the U.S. consulate's office in Monterey, Mexico. Farmers must provide housing that is approved by state inspectors. Employers also must provide transportation to and from the housing to the worksite.

"And, you've got to provide the housing, whether they're using it or not," Boelts said. "Here in Yuma, there's housing all over the place that's provided. And, guys go, 'I'm gonna live in Mexico and cross everyday anyways, even though I'm in the H-2A program.'"

Sarah Black is the general manager of Great Lakes Ag Labor Services LLC, a company started as a pilot project by the Michigan Farm Bureau in 2014 to help its members navigate the H-2A program. Great Lakes Ag Labor now works with more than 100 farmers in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin, partnering with the state Farm Bureau offices. Black said the company will bring in 2,600 workers this year.

"We basically started from the ground up," Black said. "A few of our farms at the time were using H-2A, but a lot of members thought it was complicated, and it could be fraught with litigation if you don't do it right. It's so complicated," Black continued, "and you can unintentionally do something or not do something, and not have any idea that is going to get you into trouble. The opportunities for them to come and find something wrong is not too hard if you don't work with someone you trust."

There are different models for H-2A contractors. Great Lakes works on the paperwork side, doing all the filing for a farm and recruiting the workers. The company ensures workers have appointments for visas at a consulate and makes travel arrangements for the workers to arrive in the U.S.

"We do everything on the front end," Black said. "But then, when the worker arrives at the farm, they are the employee of the farmer, and so that farmer has control over the schedule and the day-to-day management. That's our model."

Initially, it was larger produce farms that used Great Lakes for finding workers at harvest. Over time, the profile of farms using the services has evolved, Black explained.

"What really has changed now is all kinds of farms use H-2A. Ten or 15 years ago, if you asked about H-2A, it was for the specialty guys who hand-pick fruits and vegetables. That's no longer the case. There is every type of walk or make of farm that is using the program," Black said.

Great Lakes even works to bring in workers for livestock, poultry and dairy farms that can't use it in the same way that other farmers do because of the restriction of seasonal or temporary.

"We've got dairy farm clients who are bringing in South Africans for equipment operations because they can't hire people domestically to help plant or haul manure and do (other) things. So, what has changed in the last five years is the labor pool has dwindled everywhere in agriculture, and all farms are using the program and have a need for it more so than maybe they did 15 or 20 years ago."

Black added, "It's a big decision to get into H-2A. It's not something you want to do lightheartedly without really thinking through it."

H-2A CREATES WAGE PRESSURES

Ask any farmer who brings in H-2A workers, and they will tell you they do not understand how the U.S. Department of Labor comes up with the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR). Based on data provided by the USDA farm labor survey, the Department of Labor calculates a new AEWR every year.

In Kansas, Bowlin and other farmers are required to pay $19.21 an hour under the H-2A program. That's $3.42 more per hour than farmers are required to pay for the same work in Oklahoma or Texas. Kansas, surprisingly, ranks among the more expensive states on the H-2A pay scale.

"I don't know any farmers around here paying $19.21 an hour and providing a place to live, and providing workers' comp, too," Bowlin said.

AEWR got more complicated in 2019 when the Biden administration set multiple different wage rates based on job classifications for the workers. That change pressed farm groups to demand more reforms to the program, because it started aggressively pricing farmers out of the program.

"That's opened up a lot of challenges on the ground and increased wages on the ground. So, it's both a question of cost and a question of complexity," said Kristi Boswell, a consultant with the law firm Alston and Bird. A former lobbyist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, Boswell worked on agricultural labor as a USDA adviser during the first Trump administration.

"We already have farms consolidating or going out of business because they can't access labor. The cost of H-2A is driving farms out of business as much as anything right now," she said.

Frank Gieringer runs a u-pick-'em farm operation, Gieringer's Family Farm, outside of Edgerton, Kansas. The Gieringer farm is known for its strawberries, but the operation also keeps adding to its agritourism aspects. Gieringer has four H-2A workers, and he also credited their work ethic.

"They know exactly what we need to do. They start on their own. They are never late for work. In the four years we've had them, we've had one employee take a day off because he was sick. They work every day. It's a great opportunity for them. They can make more in a day than they can in a week or more in Mexico. They don't have a lot of opportunities at home."

Still, Gieringer also questioned whether H-2A will continue to be a viable option for finding workers. "We have one of the lower costs of living here. I just don't understand it. This isn't going to be sustainable if it keeps going up year after year," Gieringer said of the AEWR. "We like the (H-2A) program but not some of the headaches that go along with it."

Bowlin also likes the productivity he gets from his two guest workers, and he wants to continue with the program as long as it is practical.

"We're already planning for next year and beyond as long as I can afford it," Bowlin said. "As long as I can afford them, I'm not going to lose them. I think H-2A is a very good program, but I do think it needs to be tweaked a little bit. As produce farmers, we don't have any safety nets on our crops like the corn, the bean and wheat farmers. You can't afford crop insurance on produce."

As reliance on H-2A guest workers has surged from 200,000 to nearly 385,000 since 2017, U.S. agricultural imports also have climbed from $125 million to $213 million annually -- putting new pressure on domestic farmers already facing labor and wage challenges.

Boelts said imports are particularly hurting specialty crop farmers in states such as California, Oregon and Washington, which also have some of the highest wage standards under the H-2A program. Those states are "canaries in the coal mine" when it comes to the impacts of high labor costs with H-2A.

"A lot of the products they grow are really coveted, but they are competing against a growing volume of foreign imports," Boelts said. "And they are just getting their asses kicked."

He added that farmers in Arizona are competing against produce farms in Mexico that are bringing in cheaper workers from other Central American countries.

"So, whether it's folks in California or here in Arizona, you have a high cost of production compared to Mexico, and you're competing with Mexico dollar for dollar in the store," Boelts said.

WHAT'S NEXT

President Donald Trump made it clear when he came into office that his administration was going to focus aggressively on border security. He has made good on that promise and has ramped up deportations.

At the same time, Trump has also opened the door for reforming agricultural labor policies. In April, Trump suggested that a new program would be set up to help legalize farmworkers and reduce the risk of farmers losing undocumented workers to mass deportations.

"We're also going to work with our farmers, so if they have strong recommendations for their farms, for certain people, we're going to let them stay in for awhile and work with farmers, and come back and go through a process, a legal process," Trump said at a Cabinet meeting.

Trump added, "We have to take care of our farmers, the hotels, and you know, various, various places where they need the people."

Boelts pointed to Trump's comments about farmworkers "touching base" and coming back to work as ideally an opportunity for Congress to push ahead on a farm labor bill.

"Agriculture has been talking about it a little more vocally the last 10 years that there are several million people in this country documentally challenged, and the food that goes on the table every day is dependent on it, whether it be in the dairy sector or fresh fruits and vegetables."

Chris Clayton can be reached at chris.clayton@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @ChrisClaytonDTN

(c) Copyright 2025 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.