Trump Administration Sets Stage for H-2A Farmworker Wage Reforms

September 16, 2025 Kevin

The Trump administration is making another run at reforming the way H-2A minimum wage rates for farmworkers are set in a manner that could provide some relief to farmers during a time of continued uncertainty about workers who are in the country illegally.

A big question is whether the administration will follow the strategy they tried to implement as President Trump was leaving office in 2020, or come up with a new method of setting the adverse effect wage rates that farmers must pay H-2A workers.

Indiana farmers are currently required to pay farm labor workers $19.57 an hour, while Kentucky farmers are only required to pay $15.87 an hour. Employers are also responsible for all housing costs for H-2A workers in addition to wages, as well as the cost of travel into and out of the country.

Farm groups contend the wage levels in the USDA survey led to unsustainable increases in labor costs when growers employ H-2A workers, and the Labor Department isn’t required by law to base adverse effect wage rates on the survey.

However, the law does require the Labor Department to ensure H-2A workers a farmer wants to hire “will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly employed.

CLICK HERE to read about the H-2A farm labor issues that a farm family from Jackson County, Indiana are facing, and how they are pushing lawmakers for major changes to the H-2A farm labor program.

Source: NAFB News Service