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Farmers tell Senate H-2A program, wage survey and housing costs are squeezing operations
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Summary
Growers at a Senate hearing said high H-2A costs, housing obligations and a decades‑old farm wage survey are making seasonal labor unaffordable and urged Congress to reform the program and freeze or redesign the prevailing wage calculation.
Growers and farm-industry witnesses told the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging that labor shortages and H-2A program costs are a critical constraint on farm viability and succession. "It costs me $22 an hour for my H-2A labor," Jim Alderman, owner of Alderman Farms, told the committee, explaining that employers also pay visa and travel costs and provide housing.
Witnesses and farmers said the Adverse Wage Rate (AWR) or prevailing wage used to set H-2A wages is based on an outdated USDA survey that was not designed to set a wage rate. "The formula is totally out of, out of workable, and we need to redo that formula and set a fair wage rate," one witness said, urging a redesign of the survey and wage methodology.
Speakers recommended both short-term and structural fixes: temporarily freezing wage increases to allow revisions to the survey, developing a year-round foreign-worker program that fits dairy and other continuous operations, simplifying housing liabilities and paperwork, and reducing regulatory burdens tied to inspections and multiple food-safety checks. Several witnesses emphasized that without a reliable and affordable labor supply, younger farmers cannot scale operations even if they have technical training or capital.
Senators asked witnesses about H-2A costs in their states and pressed for legislative and administrative options to ease housing and administrative burdens. Committee members did not adopt formal actions during the hearing but sought further information from USDA and other agencies on wage-setting methodology and H-2A program design.
