American farmers have increasingly embraced the “H-2A” visa program which allows eligible employers to hire foreign workers for temporary jobs in agriculture. Since 2010, the number of workers hired through the program has increased +300%, reflecting the lack of available farm labor in the U.S.
The H-2A visa program allows farm employers in the United States to hire guest workers to fill seasonal farm jobs if employers can demonstrate that U.S. workers are not available and the presence of H-2A workers will not adversely affect similar U.S. workers. According to USDA, H-2A workers now account for about 15% of average employment on U.S. crop farms with a higher share in southeastern states.
The H-2 program developed from World War II–era guest worker programs in the British West Indies (BWI) that brought workers from the Bahamas, Barbados, and Jamaica primarily to Florida. The BWI program was codified as the H-2 program in the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952.
Fewer than 15,000 jobs were certified to be filled by H-2 farm workers during the 1950s, when most of the H-2 farm workers were Jamaicans who cut sugarcane in southern Florida and picked apples along the Eastern Seaboard.
1964 DOL regulations continued to govern the H-2 program until the Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 separated H-2 into H-2A for seasonal farm jobs and H-2B for seasonal nonfarm jobs. DOL issued H-2A regulations on June 1, 1987, that are the bedrock of current program rules. DOL must certify that
(i) U.S. workers who are “able, willing and qualified” are not and will not be available to fill the seasonal jobs for which the employer is requesting H-2A workers and
(ii) that the employment of the H-2A workers will not adversely affect U.S. workers who are “similarly employed.”
These recruitment and no-adverse-effect regulations are implemented by requiring employers to file job orders with DOL and state workforce agencies (SWAs) 60–75 days before work is to begin. SWAs use job orders to recruit U.S. workers. These job orders specify the number of H-2A workers the employer requests, details of the work to be performed, wages and hours, and housing and transportation arrangements. U.S. workers fill less than 2% of advertised “H-2A jobs,” and DOL certifies over 97% of employer requests for H-2A jobs, or 372,000 of the 382,000 requests in 2022.
In 2024, more than 380,000 workers were authorized under the H-2A program, a +300% increase from 2010, when only 94,000 workers participated, according to an analysis by University of Illinois economists at farmdocdaily. During the same period, employer applications skyrocketed from 7,400 to over 22,600.
While farms in every state have utilized the H-2A program, demand varies widely. Not surprisingly, the largest numbers of authorized foreign workers are in states that grow more labor intensive crops like fruits and vegetable. This includes states like California, Florida, Georgia, and Washington. Meanwhile, applications for H-2A workers are highest in Kentucky, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Texas. As economists at farmdocdaily point out, states that lead in applications are generally requesting far fewer workers per application than operations in high H-2A worker states.
Some 12,200 unique employers were certified to fill almost 372,000 seasonal farm jobs with H-2A workers in fiscal year 2022, an average of 32 each (many employers file several applications). Still, fewer than 10% of U.S. farm employers are certified to employ H-2A workers.
The growth of the H-2A program has been accompanied by an increased concentration of H-2A job certifications among employers who are certified for 100 or more H-2A workers. These employers accounted for two-thirds of all certified H-2A job certifications in 2022. Farm labor contractors (FLCs) — intermediaries who recruit farmworkers and bring them to farms — account for almost half of H-2A job certifications and are seven of the 10 largest H-2A employers. A likely reason for this growing concentration is a shift in the distribution of H-2A employment from commodities such as tobacco, corn, and livestock operations to FLCs, fruits, and vegetables. (Sources: farmdocdaily, Choices Magazine, USDA)
