h-2a

On Wednesday, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed into law a bill that established overtime for the Ag community. The new law will step the hours per week need to trigger overtime until it hits 40 hours in early 2024. Colfax Republican Joe Schmick said for him, that Ag overtime legislation was the biggest win for the farming community during the virtual session ...

As efforts continue in farm country to protect Ag workers from COVID-19, Douglas Fruit held a mass vaccination event Friday at their Pasco area warehouse. Lindsey Peonio said the one day event was open for all Douglas Fruit and Douglas Ag Services employees ...

The Farm Workforce Modernization Act recently passed recently by the House of Representatives would give dairy farmers much needed greater access to foreign labor. The National Milk Producers Federation's Chris Galen said House passage of the bill provides momentum towards addressing dairy’s labor needs. ...

On Wednesday Central Washington's Dan Newhouse and California's Zoe Lofgren reintroduced the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. The lawmakers says the bipartisan bill, which passed the House during last year’s Congress, aims to ensure a legal, reliable workforce for America’s farmers and ranchers. Among other pr ...

Setting Farm Bureau’s focus for 2021, Key topics ranged from farm diversity to farm labor and dairy policy to livestock marketing. Sam Kieffer, AFBF Vice President of Public Affairs, said Farm Bureau delegates voted to increase racial diversity in agriculture. ...

Farmworker groups filed a lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of trying to suppress worker wages. Their suit asks a federal judge to set aside a Labor Department rule that could cut agricultural guest worker wages by up to $170 million over the next ten years ...

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the recent H-2A adverse effect wage rate final rule, which changes the index farm wages are based upon, will help provide producers predictability in labor costs. AFBF Congressional Relations Director Allison Crittenden said this data proves farmers will have more predictability and stability when it comes to their wage rates ...

On Monday, the Labor Department issued a final rule that updates the methodology for determining the annual Adverse Effect Wage Rates in the H-2A visa program. The Trump administration claims the new rule improves the consistency of the wage rates, provides stronger protections for workers, and establishes better stability and predictability for employers ...

Last week, United Farm Workers filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for suspending a farm labor survey. Last month, the USDA announced the intention to suspend the Agricultural Labor Survey. The Department of Ag claims the public can access other data sources for the data collected in the survey ...

According to the USDA, the number of H-2A workers increased fivefold between 2005 and 2019. Calling the data an indicator of the scarcity of farm labor, USDA’s Economic Research Service says the number of H-2A positions requested and approved increased from just over 48,000 in 2005 to nearly 258,000 in 2019. Th ...