U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) led 74 of his colleagues in urging congressional appropriators to suspend the annual adjustment to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), the required wage that farm employers must pay H-2A workers.
“In 2024, the H-2A labor rates paid by agricultural employers have become more unaffordable,” Rep. Huizenga and the members wrote in a Jan. 11 letter sent to appropriators in Congress. “The new rates put further financial strain on farm operations of all sizes, and we urge you to include an H-2A wage freeze in upcoming funding legislation.”
The AEWR has more than doubled since 2005, making agricultural labor and its products more unaffordable, according to their letter, which noted that the nation’s average AEWR reached $17.55 per hour this year, more than a 5 percent increase over 2023.
Coupled with other inflated input costs, including fuel and fertilizer, many farms are in danger of going out of business, the lawmakers say.
“For farmers and ranchers who use H-2A, the skyrocketing AEWR will only compound inflated input costs like energy and fertilizer, other guest worker expenses like transportation and housing, and burdens from several impending federal regulations and fees,” Rep. Huizenga and his colleagues wrote, noting that USDA data shows that hired farm labor costs account for nearly 15 percent of total cash expenses.
“More labor-intensive industries will be hardest-hit, including specialty crop growers, who already spend nearly 40 percent of their total cash expenses on labor alone,” wrote the members. “If we do nothing, many of our constituents will be forced to shutter their businesses, despite good-faith efforts to ensure our national food security and feed families across our nation.”
Agricultural leaders across America support a proposed H-2A wage freeze, including Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation; Cathy Burns, CEO of the International Fresh Produce Association; Michigan Farm Bureau President Carl Bednarski; and Jim Bair, president and CEO of the U.S. Apple Association.
“While more permanent solutions are needed to address the AEWR’s past impact and its future trajectory,” wrote Rep. Huizenga and his colleagues, “we request that an upcoming government funding vehicle prohibit funds from being used to implement a wage increase or otherwise freeze the H-2A wage rates at January 2023 levels.”