Immigration changes and labor reforms have created a moving target for farms utilizing H-2A temporary farm labor in 2025, especially for those located in isolated areas or growing specialty crops.
To maintain legal labor and stay steps ahead of evolving policies, labor consultant Katie Ramagos Nunez shared the practices she and her clients follow on the farm to simplify paperwork and stay audit-ready.
Read MoreAFBF and other industry coalition members achieved a crucial win yesterday that will help farmers across the country. AFBF and its partners were granted a preliminary injunction by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi barring the Department of Labor (DOL) from enforcing its Worker Protection Rule extending unionization rights to H-2A visaholders.
Read MoreFarmworkers, today we appreciate you. Your hard work may often be behind the scenes but please know that it does not go unnoticed or unappreciated. Today may be Farmworker Appreciation Day, but every day anyone enjoys a meal is one we should be thanking a farmworker.
Read MoreOn June 28, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) implemented a new final rule to enhance protections for agricultural workers, both American and foreign, particularly those employed under H-2A status. This rule strengthens enforcement measures to ensure compliance with federal labor laws, boosting worker protection obligations in several key areas.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Labor proposed a new rule that would strengthen protections for farm workers in the H-2A program and help prevent abuses that undermine wages and standards for all agricultural workers.
The proposed rule would add new protections for worker self-advocacy, better protect workers against retaliation, make foreign labor recruitment more transparent and enhance the department’s enforcement. This proposal builds on a final rule the department published in October 2022 that modernized key aspects of the H-2A program.
Read MoreAmerican Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall commented today on the House Agriculture Committee formation of a bipartisan Agricultural Labor Working Group to address pressing issues facing farmers.
Read MoreThe future of undocumented farmworkers and needed changes in securing agricultural labor were the focus of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on July 21 featuring over two hours of questioning of Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack during the first panel and additional testimony offered by the United Farm Workers as well as a pork producer and dairy farmer.
Read MoreCongressman Clay Higgins, who represents Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District, spent time yesterday meeting with local rice and crawfish producers to discuss various issues facing the two industries.
Rep. Higgins’ first stop was at the Bieber Farm near Mamou. The main topic of conversation with the group there was labor concerns, specifically the H2A & H2B programs.
A widely supported solution for ongoing agricultural labor woes – the Farm Workhouse Modernization Act – was reintroduced in the House Wednesday as Congress again looks to advance immigration reform. The bipartisan bill, which passed in the House in 2019 by a vote of 260-165, makes meaningful reforms to the H-2A agricultural guestworker program and creates a first-of-its-kind, merit-based program specifically designed for the nation’s ag sector.
Read MoreDue to the COVID - 19 virus, the 2021 Mid South Agricultural Labor Seminar will be conducted this year as a Zoom Virtual Seminar on Tuesday, March 9, 2021 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. There is no registration fee to attend. This year, with new employer responsibilities due to the COVID virus, this year’s topics will focus on important current issues such as COVID pay, OSHA Regulations and Reporting Requirements and Housing.
Read MoreWith the release of USDA’s Farm Labor Survey on February 11, farmers that utilize the H-2A program finally know the minimum wage they must pay their H-2A workers in 2021. Usually, this wage rate, known as the Adverse Effect Wage Rate, is known when the Farm Labor Survey is released in November, but changes in policy that were proposed and then struck down in the courts over the last four months delayed the Farm Labor Survey’s release, which in turn held up the AEWR announcement. The FLS reveals an average increase of $0.63 per hour, or 4.5%, from 2020 to 2021, though there are considerable regional differences.
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