H-2A Labor Prices on the Dramatic Rise

With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.

The USDA says farmers who hire H-2A laborers next year will be paying higher wages, and in some cases, the increase is large. Veronica Nigh, senior economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, talks about the increasing costs of farm labor…

“The USDA’s Farm Labor Survey told us that wage rates across the United States, in all states, in all regions, increased in 2023. The Farm Labor Survey tells us that in 2024, farmers in 13 states will pay more than $1 more per hour to their H-2A employees than they did this year. Farmers in 31 states will pay between 50 cents and $1 more. Only in six states is the increase for next year less than 50 cents.”

She says this is a very important survey for production agriculture…

“USDA’s Farm Labor Survey is utilized by the Department of Labor to establish the Adverse Effect Wage Rates that growers must pay H-2A workers through the temporary visa program. So, these wage rates are really make or break for farmers as to whether or not the wage rates they pay out through the H-2A program are going to be viable for their business.”

The smallest increase, she says, was for the Corn Belt. The largest percentage increase was in Hawaii where they are going to pay $1.49 per hour more next year.