Labor

Tick Safety Guide: Preventing Alpha-Gal Syndrome and Lyme Disease

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 18:49:28 GMT

Increasing reports of alpha-gal syndrome, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and other tick-related illnesses are a critical reminder why preparation is important before spending time outside in spring and summer, says University of Missouri and Lincoln University Extension urban entomologist Emily Althoff.

Ticks are the most important vectors of disease in domestic and wild animals throughout the world, and are second only to mosquitoes in transmitting disease in humans. As temperatures rise and people begin camping, fishing and farming, it’s more important than ever to be aware of the health dangers posed by ticks, she explains.

What is Alpha-Gal Syndrome (AGS)?

Bites from the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum) or the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis, also called deer ticks) can trigger AGS. Alpha-gal is a sugar molecule found in most mammals. After eating mammalian meat, people who become allergic to alpha-gal may experience an hours-long delay in symptoms, which include hives, swelling of lips, face, tongue or throat, stomach pain and nausea, reports the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill . It can also cause restricted breathing and death.

deer_tick-Mizzou.jpg

(University of Missouri)

AGS diagnosis involves a combination of medical history, physical examination, allergy testing and symptom tracking.

Best Practices for Tick Prevention on the Farm

Although Lyme disease is treatable with antibiotics, there is currently no cure for AGS. Because of this, tick prevention is the best defense. Here are three tips for tick prevention

Dress to defend.
Ticks frequently attach to the lower legs of people and then crawl upward before embedding themselves in the skin to feed. They thrive in the humid, cool layer at the soil’s surface and often locate hosts using an ambush strategy known as “questing.”
The right choice of clothing can help you prevent you from picking up ticks, Althoff says. Choose light-colored garments. Tuck your shirt into your pants, and tuck your pants into your socks.

“This is where duct tape comes in handy,” she says. Duct tape the bottom of the pant legs closed to prevent ticks from getting to your skin.
Use DEET.
Always apply DEET-based insect repellent when visiting wooded areas or working on farms, says MU Extension health and safety specialist Karen Funkenbusch. Apply DEET only as directed to exposed skin or clothing. Avoid eyes, mouth, injured skin and children’s hands. Be careful not to inhale the product, and do not use it around food, she cautions. Wash treated skin and clothing thoroughly once you’re back indoors.
Search and destroy.
When you come inside after spending time in the outdoors, perform a full-body tick check. Look inside and behind the ears, along the hairline, the back of the neck, armpits, groin, legs, behind the knees and even between toes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends showering within two hours of being outdoors. If you find a tick, remove it with sturdy tweezers.

How to Safely Remove a Tick

Removing a tick can be challenging, but do not wait to go to a healthcare provider. Grasp the tick at the front of its body, as close to the skin as possible, and pull straight out. Avoid squeezing the rear of the tick, as this can cause it to expel gut contents into your skin, increasing the risk of infection. Clean the bite area and your hands with rubbing alcohol, iodine or soap and water.

If you develop a rash or fever within several days to weeks after removing a tick, see your doctor.
Contrary to popular belief, CDC warns not to use petroleum jelly, heat, nail polish, or other substances to try and make the tick detach from the skin. This may agitate the tick and force infected fluid from the tick into the skin.

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Avoid Tick Testing

People who have removed a tick may wonder if they should have it tested to see if it is infected. CDC says testing is not recommended, even though some commercial groups offer it.

“Laboratories that conduct tick testing are not required to have the high standards of quality control used by clinical diagnostic laboratories,” CDC shares on its website. “Results of tick testing should not be used for treatment decisions. Positive results showing that the tick contains a disease-causing organism do not necessarily mean that you have been infected.”

If you have been infected, CDC says you will probably develop symptoms before results of the tick test are available.

If you develop a rash or fever within several weeks of removing a tick, see your doctor. Learn more here.

Read More:
Researchers Close in on Alpha-Gal Syndrome Meat Allergy Mystery Linked to Ticks

Cultivating a Modern Workforce: How Ag Operations Can Become ‘Employers of Choice’

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 12:35:07 GMT

WESTMINSTER, Colo. — In today’s highly competitive ag labor market, attracting and retaining talent has never been more challenging. At the recent Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Annual Conference, Teresa McQueen, corporate counsel for Western Growers Association, shared best practices for reducing turnover, elevating company culture and becoming an employer of choice.

McQueen defines an “employer of choice” as an organization that can say, “People choose to work here, choose to stay here and would recommend us because our day-to-day experiences match our promises.”

To understand the full value of being an employer of choice, it’s important to look at how the ag workplace has evolved. For one, McQueen says increased competition for a limited pool of reliable workers has created less tolerance for uncertainty.

“Historically, farms and ranches have operated on a more informal system, and that worked great when workers stayed around for years ... and those operational, procedural things — your company culture — were passed down informally, because ‘It’s just the way that we do things here,’ which was great when people stayed around for years and before things got really complicated,” she says. “It just doesn’t work in a modern workforce. In a modern workforce, uncertainty in employees creates turnover.”

The system of informality, in which employers rely on their employees to communicate expectations and policies, results in both uncertainty and informal decisions becoming expectations, McQueen says. “And that’s how your operations kind of get away from you.”

Another major morale killer rooted in the old way is the “we’ve always done it this way” mindset, McQueen says.

“It’s frustrating and demoralizing for employees, and it would be frustrating for all of you,” she says. “I’m sure if you came up with a great idea, an innovative way to do something, and you were told repeatedly, ‘Wow, this is a really great idea, but we’ve always done it this way,’” that mindset sends a message to employees that there’s no room for collaboration or inspiration.

Clarity, Consistency and Trust: The Path to Employer of Choice

Clarity in your purpose, consistency in your practices, trust and stability are a competitive advantage and the principal goals in becoming an employer of choice, McQueen says.

“When you have trust with your employees, they feel the work environment is stable,” she says.

Being an employer of choice is not only about being a place where people want to work but also a place employees refer others to work as well, says McQueen, who adds that reputations — good and bad — spread quickly among crews and communities. A bad reputation can fuel turnover and erode employer trust rapidly.

McQueen sees many benefits to being an employer of trust from low turnover to “fewer no-shows at critical moments in your operations.” Higher quality and consistency and “things being done right the first time, not the third time” also result in a stronger pipeline.

“Your operations already run on consistency from equipment maintenance, feeding routines, harvest timing, safety procedures — consistency with people management is exactly the same thing,” McQueen says.

At the recent Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Annual Conference, Teresa McQueen, corporate counsel for Western Growers Association, shared best practices for reducing turnover, elevating company culture and becoming an employer of choice.

(Photo: Jennifer Strailey)

Successful Supervision

Supervisor consistency is critical. Every supervisor across locations and crews needs to coach, and not push, with consistency, says McQueen. All employees must be treated the same and with respect whether they are domestic or H-2A workers.

“Make sure that you’re training your supervisors because they’re the key for a lot of us,” says McQueen, adding that people don’t leave companies; they leave bad managers.

“Supervisors are also key when it comes to risk,” says McQueen, so be sure to have a system and train supervisors to listen for the “red-flag issues.”

McQueen also advises employers to limit who can terminate or send workers home and to ensure supervisors understand they are not responsible for making big decisions like whether harassment or discrimination has occurred. Their role is to assure the employee that they will take the matter to the appropriate decision-maker immediately, says McQueen, who emphasizes that critical situations must be addressed in a timely manner.

“Because if a supervisor thinks that those particular types of decisions, which are huge risk factors for an employer, if they feel that’s within their power, you are going to have inconsistency because they’re using their personal judgment, which isn’t always what you want,” she says. “You want those decisions made from an organizational standpoint. How will we as an organization want to manage this risk?”

The bottom line is consistency every time, says McQueen.

“You want to make sure that everyone knows exactly what they’re supposed to do, and they’re doing it the same way each and every time,” she says. “Consistency leads to making fewer mistakes and creating a safe work environment.”

Define Your Employee Value Proposition: The Promise You Can Keep

1. We start on time, and you know your schedule.
2. We explain pay clearly and fix issues fast.
3. We promote crew leaders from within and train you to get there.
4. Our housing/transport rules are clear, consistent and respectful.

Documentation is another critical component of consistency.

“Recordkeeping is huge,” she says. “It legally protects you. It also builds trust operationally with your employees. It’s one of the ways that you build trust, because you’re documenting things. You know what’s being done consistently, and you can show what’s being done consistently.”

Consistency with pay practice — another big risk zone — is also key. Whether it’s piece rate, minimum wage or overtime, this is one of the places you want to make sure you’re doing it correctly and you’re in compliance with state and federal laws, she says.

Ensure simple, consistent timekeeping is being used by every person who’s responsible, she says, and create a one-page pay policy sheet in English and whatever the second-most predominant language is among the crew.

Employers of choice offer:

Consistent pay practices.
Compliant hiring practices.
A safe working environment.
Rapid response to issues involving harassment, discrimination, retaliation.

Why They Stay Interviews

Retention is decided in the first seven days on the job, says McQueen. While many employers conduct exit interviews with employees when they decide to leave, far fewer conduct “stay interviews” with engaged employees in the company. These interviews can provide insights into what’s working and where improvements can be made that can aid with retention of new employees.

She recommends conducting 10-minute, five-question stay interviews once per season.

Stay interview questions:

What’s working well?
What’s making your job harder than it needs to be?
What would cause you to leave?
How is your supervisor doing?
What’s one change you would make this week?

What’s Ahead for the Team

Ask yourself this, says McQueen: If an employee left this week, what would they say about your organization? What would they say about you as an employer? What are they telling other people?

“Are you developing [employees] so they can see a path [forward] at a place they want to stay, which is going to aid you in retention, referrals and returns?” McQueen asks.

On the path to becoming an employer of choice, McQueen’s advice is to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the thought that everything needs to be tackled at once, and instead, pick one thing to improve each season.

“Take small steps to create practices that are easily repeatable, and they become the thing that you do; they become your culture,” she says.

McQueen’s 90-Day Employer of Choice Plan

Weeks 1-2 — Quick compliance and process audit (pay, timekeeping, hiring, safety)
Weeks 3-4 — Train supervisors on consistency, retaliation awareness, documentation
Weeks 5-6 — Launch first seven-days onboarding checklist and buddy system (who new employees can go to for help)
Weeks 7-8 — Publish an employee value proposition and a “How Pay Works Here” one-pager with translations
Weeks 9-10 — Start a scorecard and run stay interviews for your highest-risk crews

Will 2026 Finally Be the Year for Immigration and Ag Labor Reform?

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 21:44:58 GMT

Talk to any farm group across the country, and they will tell you that the agricultural labor shortage is one of the most limiting factors in the industry right now next to low grain profitability.

The Time is Now
The debate over immigration and ag labor reform has been a political hot potato for decades, which has led to inaction by Congress. However, there are some indications from the leadership of the Senate and House Agriculture Committees that 2026 might be the year a long- or short-term fix could finally be passed.

The chairs and ranking members of both committees joined American Farm Bureau president Zippy Duvall at their annual convention in Anaheim, Calif., this week to talk about a variety of ag topics, but the focus quickly turned to ag labor. There was consensus among all four that solving this crisis was a priority for 2026.

Senate Ag Committee Leadership Making Ag Labor a Priority
Senate Ag Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., says the H-2A program is not working and there is pressure to find a solution.

“And I just think the time has come to get this done,” she says. “Michael Bennett has a bill that I am a co-sponsor of that would fix the H-2A visa program and make sure that we have year-round visas, that we are doing something on wage certainty protecting the existing workforce.”

Klobuchar says she has worked on immigration and agricultural labor reform over the course of several administrations, only to hit a brick wall in the end. However, she believes the need has become too great in the U.S. among industries like agriculture to ignore. To get this across the finish line farm groups like the American Farm Bureau will need to appeal to lawmakers about how refusing to solve this crisis could put more farmers out of business.

“You’ve got to make that economic case about how we want to feed the world,” she says. “We want to have strong businesses, and to do that we need a smart immigration system that allows for workers.”

Why is 2026 Different?
One change that has improved the political climate is the Trump administration’s beefed up efforts to protect the U.S. southern border says Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark.

“We said we could not do reform because the border was not secure, and it wasn’t secure; it was just the opposite of that,” he says. “We’ve worked hard; it is secure now, then through Visa programs you control the flow, but it’s time to do that.”

Boozman adds that another important change is the consensus in agriculture about the importance of reforming immigration and ag labor.

“Every farm group I talk to say this is a top priority,” he says. “We need massive reform, and the good news is on both sides of the aisle, I think, that we are getting that message because of your hard work lobbying.”

House Ag Committee Leadership Has Already Laid the Groundwork
House Agriculture Committee Chair G.T. Thompson, R-Pa., agrees it is time to break the grid lock on ag labor reform in place since the 1980s.

“Because if you don’t have a work force you have food insecurity; if you have food insecurity you have national insecurity,” he says.

In the 118^th Congress Thompson laid the groundwork for legislation by assembling a 16-member bipartisan task force on ag labor that included a cross section of farmers and processors. He says the result was a thoughtful action plan that provided 21 recommendations for reform.

“Fifteen of those were unanimous, and so we have taken those to legislative council,” he says. “We’d probably be a little further ahead if we didn’t have that goofy shutdown. We are looking forward here in this first quarter of this year of getting that introduced.”

House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig, D-Minn., says it’s a good first step but warns the challenge for immigration reform is the ongoing ICE actions carried out by Homeland Security. She had heard from dairy farmers in her home state about the chilling effect its having on the work force.

“Whether they were legal immigrants or not, they don’t want to come to work because they fear this environment right now,” she says.

Craig says at times the administration has given the impression that they do not want immigrant labor in the U.S., and so that needs to change to be able to build enough support in Congress to pass this legislation.

Automate or Relocate: The $1,600-Per-Acre Crisis Facing U.S. Growers

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 21:17:23 GMT

Walt Duflock, senior vice president of innovation with Western Growers, says it’s a challenging time for ag labor. While the domestic labor supply has dwindled, more growers have used the H-2A guestworker program, he says.

“Every time we turn around, we’re talking about labor shortages in the fresh produce industry,” he says. “How bad is it? It is bad, and it’s not getting better.”

Duflock, whose organization represents around 2,300 growers, joined “AgriTalk” to discuss the current state of ag labor and the challenges to automation. Duflock says those growers using the H-2A guestworker program have additional regulatory costs, which have caused wages to skyrocket.

“A lot of folks said, boy, when we get to $20 an hour for farm labor, that’s going to be Armageddon,” he says. “Well, we zip right past that with H-2A because you throw an adverse effect wage rate, which is the minimum wage for those folks, into the mix. That’s almost $20. And then you house them, you transport them and you feed them. That’s $28 to $30.So the fastest growing percentage of California labor right now is the highest cost part of it. And there’s no end in sight.”

Duflock says an analysis by California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, calculated the true costs of ag labor. In 2005, that figure was $109 an acre. In 2017, that number jumped to $977 an acre. In 2024, that figure came to $1,600 an acre.

“Same farmer, same operator, same crop, 20 years apart, $1,600 per acre per year,” he says of which is about 80% in labor.

So, what is the industry to do? Duflock says it’s simple: automate or relocate. He says using the Census of Agriculture data from 1997 to 2022 and then projected to 2052, he estimates the state of California will lose a significant number of farms.

“We are forecast to lose one-third of our acres in California and over half of our farmers in 50 years,” he says. “So, we will be down to less than 20 million acres from 2029. We will be down to 43,000 farmers from 87.”

Duflock says a lot of that attrition is due to production moving outside the U.S. to other countries with less regulatory pressure, better water availability and a steady stream of labor. But, for U.S. growers, technology is a strong path forward.

“Right now, where we’re making progress is on the non-harvest activities,” he says. “That’s about one-third of the hours.”

Duflock says growers paid about $16.3 billion for about 850 million hours of labor. And automating the non-harvest tasks is a start, but harvest is a real challenge, as it makes up the lion’s share of the labor needed.

“We’ve effectively got zero percent of fresh harvest automated at the moment,” he says. “That is 560 million hours that we bought last year.”

Duflock says he sees the potential for about 15% to 20% of harvest automation in the next few years, but to get there, there will need to be industry investment.

“We need private-public, and we need some new investment strategies for harvest,” he says.

Data Reveals How the Ag Labor Crisis Drives Up Food Prices

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 23:05:35 GMT

Zach Rutledge, an assistant professor in the department of agricultural, food and resource economics at Michigan State University, joined a panel of growers as part a webinar series from Grow it Here to discuss the impact of labor challenges on the fresh produce industry.

“When you have a decrease in the labor supply, that’s going to put upward pressure on farm wages, it’s going to reduce domestic production and reduce the supply of goods that are produced here in the U.S.,” he says. “Ultimately, in aggregate, when we look nationally, a reduced supply of production means that that’s going to put upward pressure on food prices.”

Rutledge says there are several reasons why there’s a decline in farmworkers from better job opportunities in non-farm sectors in the U.S., to better opportunities in other countries that would supply farmworkers. Immigrant farmworkers who have settled down in the U.S. no longer follow the crops from the south to the north throughout the growing season. And those workers who came to the U.S. in the 1990s and 2000s have not been replaced.

“In the 1990s, there was about 50% to 60% of the workers would migrate at least 75 miles to work on a farm away from their home,” he says. “The share of those workers has just declined since the turn of the millennium. Now we have only about 10% or 15% of the workforce willing to migrate to work on farms.”

He says following interviews of 2,500 growers in California, he’s discovered the average labor shortage is about 20% of growers.

Rutledge also shares his economic model to highlight the link between changes in the specialty crop labor market and food prices.

“When you have a 10% reduction in farm employment, that causes a 2.94% increase in food prices in aggregate across the U.S.” he says. “We have a specialty crop sector that’s worth about $115 billion per year. So, what that translates to is an additional $3.4 billion in food prices.”

Growers’ Perspective

Lisa Tate, a fifth-generation citrus and avocado grower in southern California, discussed some of the challenges of a lack of contracted labor crews. She says when her family requests a crew during a labor shortage, a farm labor contractor might send fewer workers, which slows down harvest and creates a ripple effect throughout her family’s business.

“Packing houses can’t run at full efficiency,” she says. “Fruit isn’t always picked at peak maturity. Other farms wait longer for crews, and most importantly, for the growers, the fruit quality suffers. So lower quality affects grading and ultimately reduces the price farmers receive for their goods.”

Tate says growers can’t stop or slow production, and often in labor shortages, that means crews work overtime, which is extremely costly in the state of California.

“These additional costs don’t get passed along to the retailers and eventually the consumer, because growers often don’t know the price they’ll receive at harvest,” she says. “In many cases, my payment doesn’t arrive until nine months later, which makes it hard to know in real time whether continuing to harvest is financially sustainable. Even if I was able to adjust the price, the higher prices make us less competitive with foreign growers.”

And, she says this takes a toll on growers, who often decide to leave agriculture altogether instead of cutting back.

“The most serious impacts of labor instability build slowly, which is why they’re really easy to miss,” she says. “Crops keep growing, and harvests continue just more slowly and less efficiently, making them even less financially competitive with foreign growers. And the problem doesn’t always immediately show up in the production numbers or at the grocery store, but over time, those effects add up as farmland and farmers are lost.”

Brandon Raso of Variety Farms in Hammonton, N.J., says this past year his family struggled to find enough workers to harvest the blueberries on his family’s 650-acre farm. He says his family typically needs about 600 to 700 workers but could only find about 200 workers.

“I’ve calculated that we lost 2.5 million pounds of blueberries last year due to falling on the ground — just due to the fact that we couldn’t harvest,” he says. “We’ve seen a huge exodus in multigenerational farms in our area. Just in the past two years, we’ve seen three farmers close their doors based off the fact that we can’t find the workers to get the crop harvested.”

Raso echoes what Tate says in that he doesn’t know what the end price will be.

“We’re price takers, not price makers, which is always an important thing to remember with all commodities, for the most part,” he says. “At the end of the day, whether I produce a million pounds or 10 million pounds, I don’t dictate the amount of money that I bring back to the farm to keep us sustainable year to year.”

What About Mechanization?

Raso says his family has invested significantly in new plantings, but that will take his family about eight to nine years to be in full production and get a return on the investment. Raso says he’s been asked about investing in new technology and automation to offset the loss of labor. He says with blueberries, there’s so many different aspects from fields to packing.

“The cost is so unsustainable for us to even think about investing in those sorts of systems, that it’s out of the question,” he says. “Farming, in many ways, it’s still such a primitive occupation. You grow a crop, you harvest it, and you ship it, and there’s only a few ways to do that. Yes, things have improved. Technology has improved. It’s definitely aided us in being competitive. But, you know, at the end of the day, if you have a T-shirt factory and no workers show up, how many T-shirts can you make? None. Why? Because you still need people there to turn the equipment on. You still need people to open the doors, turn the lights on. In most cases, it comes down to the number of people you have to operate that business.”

Linda Pryor, a third-generation apple grower from Hilltop Farm in Hendersonville, N.C., agrees, noting her family has used as much mechanization as possible.

“If there is an opportunity to mechanize, we have used it because the labor is so expensive,” she says. “Any type of reasonable machinery is going to pay for itself really quickly. And additionally, there’s just places that these machines can’t get to. I don’t farm on flat ground. I farm on hillsides. And so having machinery that is capable of doing that, and even if those types of machines existed, which they don’t, it would be really difficult for them to get into a lot of the places, so wherever possible, we definitely do mechanize, but there’s just a lot that just needs people.”

Upfront Costs to Growers

Tate says her family sends the picked fruit to the packinghouse that washes and stores it and then sells it. Tate says her family pays all the costs up front without knowing what the end return will be.

“The way that it works is, whatever the money [the packinghouse gets], everybody gets paid in the process,” she says. “Whatever is left over is what the farmer gets. And sometimes that’s good, you get a lot of money, and sometimes you end up owing money at the end of it. You don’t know until much later in the season that that’s what it is.”

And she says it might take multiple bad years before growers give up.

“You have to remember that we’re on an 80-year life cycle with some of our trees,” she says. “If we’re taking out some, maybe we invested in 20 years ago, we still haven’t recouped the cost of that investment for 20 more years. If we make that really tough decision to remove that crop and replace it with something, it’s a huge loss.”

Brandon Batten, a sixth-generation blueberry grower from Triple B Farms in Johnson County, N.C., says a lot of his family’s returns are based on supply and demand. Once crews harvest the blueberries and they’re in the cooler, his family starts making calls.

“If there’s a lot of blueberries in the market, your price is going to be a little bit lower,” he says. “If there’s a little bit of an opening, we make a few more bucks. But at the end of the day, there’s never the decision to say, ‘hey, let’s, let’s hang back a couple days,’ or ‘let’s put it off and maybe come back next week and see what we got.’ Once the crops are on, it’s seven days a week until the season is over a couple of months later.”

Batten also says his family fronts the costs of the labor, materials and packaging, and he says his family often won’t see payments for 60 days.

“It’s always nail-biting,” he says. “You know, once the season is over and the smoke settles, you see what you’re left with. And you know, hopefully you have a few bucks to make a few investments and get ready for next year.”

How 2025 Policy Shifts Will Define Farm Labor in 2026

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 14:42:28 GMT

Editor’s note: This is the final story in a series exploring the current state of labor in the fresh produce industry.

The ag labor landscape looks much different at the end of 2025 than it did in January, amid several policy updates. The fresh produce industry has long advocated for the need to reform and streamline the H-2A guest worker program, and some changes have come to fruition.

The year featured several key shifts. In August, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service announced it would discontinue the agency’s Farm Labor Survey, which the Department of Labor previously used to set the minimum Adverse Effect Wage Rate. In October, the DOL issued an interim final rule that fundamentally changes how the AEWR is calculated. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security moved to streamline the H-2A petition process, a change that now allows DHS and the DOL to concurrently process H-2A visas. Finally, the Trump administration also took steps to halt and repeal the DOL’s controversial 2024 Worker Protection Rule.

“We’ve had a great 2025 both on the regulatory side,” says Michael Marsh, president and CEO of the National Council of Agricultural Employers. “I’m optimistic we’re going to be able to get a lot done in 2026.”

Diane Kurrle, senior vice president of the U.S. Apple Association, says that, for the most part, these regulatory changes are a win for the industry.

“What’s in the interim final rule is much better from the perspective of the apple industry than what the status quo had been, which was pushing apple growers out of business,” she says. “Which was driven by just the dramatic increases that AEWR had year after year and how out of sync it was with the rest of the economy.”

Ending the Farm Labor Survey is another positive step, Kurrle says.

“The fact that USDA did make the decision not to continue doing the Farm Labor Survey and using that as the basis for the AEWR is also something that we’ve been advocating for a number of years, and so that too was something that I would consider a victory for USApple and for all H-2A users,” she says.

Optimism hasn’t necessarily been something associated with ag labor. There are a few matters with these policy updates that need to be ironed out, but the industry, at first glance, appears cautiously optimistic looking ahead to 2026.

Potential Challenges

With comment period for the interim final rule on how AEWR is calculated now closed, the industry awaits any potential updates to the rule. There have also been some legal challenges that will play out in court.

In November, the United Farm Workers of America, the UFW Foundation and individual farmworkers filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California to halt the interim final rule.

“Our understanding is that the administration is going to step in and defend that rule,” says Rebecca Hause-Schultz, a partner with Fisher Phillips, a law firm that specializes in labor and employment law. “We expect there will be groups filing amicus briefs in support of the rule.”

While this law isn’t perfect and there are questions about how the Standard Occupational Classification codes in the interim final rule would be assigned, Hause-Schultz says this is a net positive.

“I think, on the whole, the industry is happier with the interim final rule than an AEWR that was spiraling out of control just exponentially year over year,” Hause-Schultz says. “So, we expect there to be some support in the industry to support the administration’s effort to defend that rule and the rollout and what they did.”

Implementation Challenges

Kate Tynan, senior vice president for the Northwest Horticultural Council, agrees, noting that she hopes for more clarity as the DOL assesses public comments.

“It’s now just more a matter of understanding exactly how to apply [it]. Is a job going to be considered Skill Level 1 or Skill Level 2? I think that’s the biggest question folks have, which again, it’s more of an administrative issue,” she says. “Anytime you have a new regulation come out, especially with a program that’s already as complex as the H-2A program, trying to understand how that’s all going to play out is always a challenge. It’s good news across the board. It’s just kind of the devil’s administrative details of this structure.”

Hause-Schultz says one thing she’s heard from clients is a lot of inquiries on how other agricultural operations will set wages for 2026.

“The biggest question I’m getting is, ‘OK, what are we doing? Are we keeping rates? Are we freezing rates? Are we going down to the minimum that we can pay? Are we kind of meeting somewhere in the middle? What are we doing in response?’” she says. “That has been all over the map of what employers plan to do for their next contract.”

Tom Bortnyk, senior vice president of development and general counsel for H-2A provider másLabor, says one bright spot in some of this wage variability is the potential for upward mobility of farmworkers, where new workers without experience might start at a lower wage with the potential to reach the wages of established workers.

“You start to see market forces, even though this rule has only been in effect for a couple of months, where they say, ‘OK, now workers have some choice,’” he says. “Now there’s actually competition in the labor market. And now, on top of that, there’s upward mobility for the first time.”

Additional Considerations

Hause-Schultz says another thing to keep in mind is that with any major change, leadership must communicate these adjustments to workers openly and transparently.

“I’m a big proponent of having informational sessions with employees whenever there is a large change in your operation and being candid about this is what we’re doing,” she says. “This is why we’re doing it. Here’s how it’s going to impact you and information about who to contact. If they have further questions, just open lines of communication, I think on both sides — so that the employee does feel heard and doesn’t feel like they need to go to a third party to get that open ear and line of communication open — so that you’re that entity that they trust.”

Having an approachable person in human resources who can communicate effectively with employees is important, as changes like this, especially if an operation makes a huge wage shift, could leave an agriculture employer open to outside campaigning, Hause-Schultz says.

There’s also the potential for a government shutdown that could also impact H-2A visa processing. However, the produce industry advocated for the DOL to make those processing visas essential during the 43-day shutdown this year. Funding runs out Jan. 30, 2026, which could not come at a worse time for those using the H-2A program.

“That’s when we start filing all those petitions for all those needed workers that we don’t have coming out to the farm and on the ranch,” says NCAE’s Marsh.

Chris Ball, CEO of másLabor, says that while there might be potential issues with visa processing, it’s likely the specialty crop industry won’t truly understand the impacts of the Department of Government Efficiency workforce cuts until March or April. He does say the administration has been working to mitigate potential issues. Consular capacity and appointment availability and the impacts of any reductions in workforce at the State Department could impact H-2A recruitment.

“We don’t know what, how much staffing they’ve cut at these consulates,” Ball says. “So, until we start trying to make these appointments ... we’re just not going to know what that looks like compared to previous years.”

Looking Ahead

Marsh says he hopes to wrap up the litigation that is ongoing with the departments of Labor and Homeland Security, as well as pending AEWR litigation filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa.

“We’ve been in negotiation with the Department of Justice to try to put more of a bow overall on that litigation and make sure that something like the Farm Labor Survey can never again be misused to establish wage rates in the H-2A program,” he says.

Marsh also hopes to finish rulemaking for the rescission of the worker protection rule with the Department of Homeland Security.

“The administration will be reviewing all of the comments that they received on that regulation, and that will become a final rule after it goes through that process,” he says.

NCAE has been working with the State Department to provide more transparency on the visa processing, as some growers that use farm labor contractors also have had workers tied up in administrative processing, Marsh says.

Mike Wenkel, chief operating officer with the National Potato Council, says one of the big hurdles in 2026 and beyond will be how the government addresses the existing workforce. He says the administration’s policy is that those who are here illegally need to go home and return through legal channels.

“What does that continue to look like as the administration works through their overall immigration policy, and how do we keep the workforce needed for agriculture in place? That, to me, becomes a question of: If it’s everyone needs to go home, be deported ... and your only way to come back into the country is H-2A, can we meet the needs through that program? Can we legislatively or administratively create a process to allow those individuals to continue working, not as citizens, but give them that temporary legal status?”

As the calendar turns to 2026 and midterm elections loom, there is concern about whether Congress has the appetite to tackle big legislative changes when it comes to ag labor.

“There’s been an agriculture emergency with regard to ag labor costs now for the better part of a decade, and they haven’t been able to get something across the finish line,” Kurrle says.

Wenkel says it’s likely the window for legislative change gets smaller as the calendar inches toward 2026, but it’s something the Ag Workforce Coalition monitors to see if something can happen.

“The time to strike is now,” Marsh says.

Sources say U.S. Rep. GT Thompson, R-Pa., has been working on a piece of legislation to address ag labor following the policy updates, which pulls from recommendations made in the Agriculture Labor Working Group that Thompson chaired. There’s the potential between now and the end of the year that Thompson introduces this legislation and likely has support from House leadership.

Marsh says those recommendations made in the bipartisan Ag Labor Working Group were made by those working in the ag labor space.

“It actually was developed by the people who actually use the program, rather than politicians thinking they know what’s best,” Marsh says. “Agents, attorneys, farmers and ranchers developed this proposed legislation, so hopefully the chairman will utilize a lot of that data.”

Bortnyk says there could be more policy updates coming in 2026 to help ease some regulatory burdens and make the H-2A program more predictable and stable.

“What I would say to anybody who’s trying to look into the crystal ball and try to figure out what might be coming next, I think a good starting point would be looking at what the H-2A working group put together when [U.S. Labor] Secretary [Lori] Chavez-DeRemer was in Congress,” he says. “Famously, she was on the congressional working group that looked at the H-2A program and looked to possible recommendations for program changes and improvements, and a lot of the things that they’ve already done since taking office have been on that list of recommendations by that working group.”

Your next read in this series:

What Does the Future Hold for Labor in an Ag Tech World?

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 21:59:38 GMT

Editor’s note: This is the latest story in a series exploring the current state of labor in the fresh produce industry. This is the second of two pieces exploring the role of technology and its relationship to ag labor.

Technology’s role in farming is nothing new.

From the advent of plowing to autonomous equipment, it’s easy to think of ag tech as human versus machine. But some in the fresh produce industry say the relationship between technology and labor is more nuanced.

“There is a well-established and well-founded focus on agricultural technology as labor-replacing,” says Peter O’Driscoll, executive director of the Equitable Food Initiative. “As workers were trying to improve their wages and conditions, they saw mechanization as a direct threat as a labor replacement.”

Now the circumstances are different; it’s easy to think automation is a threat to ag workers today, but that’s not the case, he says. There’s an ag labor shortage due to an aging workforce not being replaced by the next generation, and there’s more dependency on the H-2A guest worker program.

“Many growers are thinking, ‘If I get robots, I won’t have to hire workers,’” O’Driscoll says. “But when you get into the details, it’s never that simple.”

Instead, he sees the future of ag tech as more supporting of labor versus being an outright labor replacement.

“It’s inevitable, it’s obvious in a labor shortage, why the industry can and should be focusing on introducing new agricultural technologies,” he says. “But how often is that question asked around the difference between investing in labor-replacing versus labor-enhancing?”

And ag labor will play a very different role in the future of these new technologies, says Gabriel Youtsey, chief innovation officer for University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources.

“The question is, as new tech comes, who is going to pick the food?” he says. “It’ll be different than what it’s been, and what is the nature of the workers’ relationship to technology going to be on the farm?”

Different workforce

Tim Bucher, CEO and co-founder of agricultural technology company Agtonomy, says that while the future might look bleak for growers with a dwindling labor pool, there will be a significant shift in how the work will be done in the future and who will do the work.

Bucher says in lieu of advertising for tractor drivers, some of his customers who struggle to fill roles advertise for ag tech operators with video game experience.

“What automation is doing is bringing a new labor force into the picture that the technology now excites them,” he says. “It’s Farmville for real.”

And that’s exactly what Steve Mantle, founder and CEO of innov8.ag, an agricultural technology company providing data-driven solutions for growers, sees too. Mantle says he and innov8.ag have been working with a Ph.D. candidate from MIT on some really interesting predictive modeling for labor. But what’s interesting is this student didn’t grow up on a farm and is still interested in tackling the challenges facing agriculture. He says there’s a bright future in agriculture for a different type of workforce.

“I feel like there is so much of an opportunity to take your gaming type kids and your kids that came out of the womb with an iPad,” he says. “It comes back to how they think in data, even though they don’t necessarily think about it in these games and tactics and how many points do I have, and so on. How do we help them?”

Training

Tyler Niday, CEO and co-founder of Bonsai Robotics, says as more and more automation becomes available and accessible, so too does the question of the labor needed to run this equipment.

“A lot of growers actually say: ‘Hey, who do I need to hire to run these machines? Do I need a foreman with a college degree who knows a little more, who’s a little more tech savvy?’” Niday says.

And, O’Driscoll says, even if agriculture moves more toward labor replacement, there’s still going to be a strong need for human labor.

“Who’s going to train that robot? Who’s going to manage that robot?” O’Driscoll says. “So, the reality is, we’ve got a shrinking domestic workforce, we’ve got increasing demand for the product and so whatever we do in the form of automation, even if it’s labor replacing automation, you’re still going to need a workforce that has the skills to interface with this new technology.”

Youtsey says this is one of the goals of the newly formed California AgTech Alliance: to establish training and curriculum to educate the next generation of ag laborers with more of an emphasis on technology. He says it’s taking the form of drone training and general ag tech classes at different colleges in the state with the goal to offer certifications for different aspects of ag tech.

“As new skills like drone flying and robotic weeding and handling start to come online, and that gets added into the stackable certificate program, along with very basic things like English, mechanics, diesel mechanic, basic math proficiency, which are actually the three top things cited by ag employers as the things that they need from their workers,” he says. “They’ll be able to demonstrate higher-order skills that will translate into technology.”

Youtsey says, however, there’s a bit of an art to predicting the next emerging solutions and the skills needed to operate that technology.

“We’re sort of trying to skate to where the puck is going to be while we’re also supporting the now needs, which are English, basic math and mechanics,” he says.

And, Youtsey says, there’s also a focus on artificial intelligence and, therefore a greater need for AI-proficient workers.

“We’ll start to see the replacement of different kinds of workers with AI-based solutions, so we also actually need an AI-enabled workforce that knows how to use AI tools,” Youtsey explains. “We will have to learn how to harness those tools to be super producers. And if done right, they’ll create outsized productivity for one person.”

An AgSocio equipment operator is shown with a Farmwise Vulcan intrarow weeding machine.

(Photo courtesy of Equitable Food Initiative)

Easy Tasks

Mantle says a lot of what he sees in the immediate future with labor is the ability to streamline efficiencies throughout the farm with different types of automation. It’s not necessarily going to be the addition of a large piece of equipment, but more the ripple effect of smaller changes.

“A lot of the work that we’ve been doing, it’s useful and it’s not super sticky, is what are growers truly tossing and turning about at night, and it’s their finances,” Mantle says. “And what’s the biggest part of their finances? It’s their labor. There’s all this noise around tech and how it can help save the world for them. So, in a grower’s mind, what’s the role of human labor? How do we evolve it on the farm, given all this technology?”

He likens this to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. He says it’s a little different for growers with bankers and payroll as the most basic need, working up to fertility and automation, but he says many growers can’t get to those higher needs because of the extreme cost of labor.

“I can think back to sitting down with some of these CFOs, where they literally have all these spreadsheets and looking at all these different data points and trying to connect the dots,” he says. “And they’re just trying to figure out how do I unlock efficiencies in this, and how do I use labor, including even their own labor, planning to improve or basically better manage their costs.”

And so, Mantle says innov8.ag has focused on bridging the skills gap in the C-suite as well as in the skills future workers will need.

“It comes back to the gains, the lower hanging fruit, meeting the growers where they are in that Maslow’s hierarchy, bringing that data into the actionable results, where they have the intrinsic pain points that are actually adoptable and then along the way it unlocks where they can start rising back up this pyramid,” he says. “What can I implement now for better labor management on things like labor planning for next year?”

O’Driscoll says labor management goes back to the ultimate question of labor assist versus labor replacement, with labor-supporting technology helping make the existing workforce more productive and efficient, which he says will be more beneficial in the short-to-medium term.

“Some of the really impressive new technologies are labor-supporting,” O’Driscoll says. “For example, in strawberries, having these mobile platforms means workers don’t have to run up and down the rows with their boxes. The robots will carry their boxes to the end of the row. They can be more productive, especially if they’re piece rate and there’s less risk of slip and fall injuries or time lost in running to the end of the row or anything else. So those kinds of efficiencies are good for everybody, right? They’re good for workers, and they’re good for the employer, and they’re much less sort of pie in the sky than when will we actually get the robot hand to learn to twist the berry before they pull it.”

With ag labor being such a tough job, investing in technologies that can reduce repetitive motion injuries benefits the whole of agriculture.

“That’s the perspective we bring based on innumerable conversations with workers who actually want to stay in the industry, but for whom it’s not going to be sustainable absent some sort of an investment,” he says. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be investing in technological innovation in strawberries, but if it makes the folks who are doing the work now want to stay and makes their work easier and more productive, that’s better for the grower and better for the work, and that’s the win-win.

Involving Employees

Any addition of a new piece of technology is an interruption of existing work processes, O’Driscoll says.

“So, however efficient or effective this technology is, it’s still going to have to be integrated,” he says. “It’s going to create change in the work processes and systems change produces unintended consequences up and down the line. So, the simple introduction of technology that doesn’t account for the changes, that doesn’t integrate the workforce in the introduction of that in the design and introduction of the technology is probably destined to fail, even if it’s a really effective robot.”

O’Driscoll points to Semillero de Ideas, an organization that trains farmworkers as consultants to help in the creation and introduction of automation.

“Workers actually advise technologists and employers on the design of the technology,” he says.

O’Driscoll says involving the workforce in the design and introduction of technology maximizes the likelihood of success.

“Our experience in general is that people tend not to destroy things they helped to build,” he says. “Is this the 1960s battle between workers and mechanization, or is this a collaborative opportunity to integrate technologies that actually improve the productivity and the lives of workers, that introduce opportunities for skill development to workers that they feel actually helped to design?”

He says he sees this as the latter, where this will help create new opportunities for workers and offer better quality jobs. Workers, too, feel respected as a part of the process and are more likely to stay at that operation.

“The introduction of new technologies creates all kinds of new opportunities for better quality jobs,” O’Driscoll says. “This ought to be a win-win opportunity, but it’s all going to depend on whether the willingness is there to formally recognize, not just say, ‘Workers are skilled.’ But let’s go beyond saying it’s skilled labor to actually documenting the different kinds of skills that are involved and giving workers a chance to demonstrate those skills and to progress professionally. And then let’s figure out how we formally integrate their perspective and their skill into the design and integration of these new technologies.”

As for the future, Youtsey says it’s going to take creativity and patience. He says a bright side to the ag labor crisis is the investment in ag tech being made by California and others to really seek solutions. And that’s exactly what will be needed in the future.

“It’s going to take a lot of actors with a lot of creative solutioning, working together to move these solutions forward,” he says. “[Venture capital] is not going to solve it. Startups alone aren’t going to solve it. We’ve got to work in a holistic, collaborative networked way to move it forward.”

And, he says, much like what Mantle says with small introductions, the future of technology and labor will likely be a combination of a lot of different ideas.

“We’re going to have to stack some of these solutions,” he says. “It’s just going to take time. It’s going to take continuous runs at it. It’s going to take the turn of innovation to solve these things. And it’s not going to be fast.”

Your next read in this series:

A Conversation With Ag Secretary Rollins on Labor, Disease and MAHA

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 19:38:42 GMT

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins stuck to streamlining the federal government labor rules to alleviate dairy’s worker crisis and said more aggressive measures are coming to prevent and contain disease, in an interview with Dairy Herd Management. Rollins this week was at the joint annual meeting hosted by National Milk Producers Federation, the United Dairy Board and the United Dairy Industry Association in Arlington, Texas.

While there, she said the H-2A visa program is particularly broken for dairy, which requires year-round support instead of seasonal workers. She also said measures, such as mandatory testing for lactating dairy cattle prior to interstate movement, are not aggressive enough to address modern biosecurity threats.

Below is a summary of Dairy Herd’s 20-minute conversation with Rollins, who discussed labor, disease prevention as well as her feelings on the “Make America Healthy Again” movement.

What Federal Efforts Are in the Works to Ensure Adequate Labor for U.S. Dairies?

One of the central concerns among dairy producers, and the entire industry, is comprehensive immigration reform. To put it in perspective, more than two-thirds of today’s 9.36 million dairy cows are milked by immigrant laborers in the U.S., according to the National Milk Producers Federation.

Currently, the H-2A visa applies strictly to seasonal or temporary labor. Dairy operations, however, require consistent, skilled workers every day of the year. Milking and caring for cows, managing processing facilities and ensuring food safety are daily tasks that don’t pause between seasons. This mismatch leaves dairy farmers and processors nationwide without a legal means to fulfill their guestworker needs.

In addition to the need for year-round help, Secretary Rollins notes farmers must interact with three different federal agencies to use the H-2A program. Moreover, the costs associated with securing labor have significantly increased, with reports from farmers in south Texas indicating average hourly costs, including transportation and housing, reaching $30 to $35 per hour. Comparatively, similar labor across the border is $2 per hour, Rollins says, illustrating a system that is both unsustainable and inherently unfair.

Ideally, any H-2A program changes will reduce costs and red tape, but comprehensive solutions ultimately require congressional action.

In addition to visa programs, Secretary Rollins says the current administration remains focused on sealing borders and mass deportations.

“Everyone understands the dynamics of an open border, and the millions and millions, we’re unable to count how many, that crossed during the last administration. The President’s No. 1 promise as a candidate in 2022 through 2024 was sealing the border and mass deportations,” she says. “Looking at this challenge through the lens of understanding labor is absolute when we can’t feed ourselves, combined with where we are in terms of immigration, those are the nuances.”

How is the Administration Addressing Threats to Animal Ag?
On day 1, after being sworn in as Secretary of Ag, Rollins was briefed on HPAI . She made it clear that while some measures, such as mandatory testing for lactating dairy cattle prior to interstate movement , had been enacted, a broader and more aggressive approach is necessary. Recognizing that maintaining the status quo was insufficient, a comprehensive strategy was essential — not just from USDA but across the entire federal government.

“I realize there are lots of opinions on my boss, President Trump, but I think the one thing that most people would agree on is that he leaves it all in the field. And, that we have to do everything we can for this moment that we were given to fix a very broken system, whatever that system may look like, in this case, which is animal disease,” Rollins says.

In February 2025, the Trump administration set forth a five-point plan to combat HPAI . Rollins notes the dairy sector, in particular, showcased remarkable adaptability to HPAI threats, demonstrating industry resilience and proactive measures.

Significant investments, such as a $100 million innovation grant , have been allocated to explore vaccines and therapeutic solutions. However, the complexities of viral mutations necessitate caution, especially regarding vaccination strategies, to prevent potentially more dangerous strains from emerging.

“I think we’re going to make more progress than perhaps has been made. Having said that, it’s a virus and the virus always wins,” she says, noting they are worried about New World screwworm and took aggressive actions to combat that by closing several ports.

“We’ve not imported new animals, which is one of the reasons beef prices are up, but we are looking now to figure out how to start reopening ports. I think we’ve gotten our arms around exactly what the problem is,” she says. “We’re building out new sterile fly facilities, which is the only way we eradicated it 30 to 40 years ago, but we have a really good system in place.”

Rollins shares collaborations with international counterparts are stronger, creating an unprecedented partnership with Mexican authorities to manage and preempt future animal agriculture outbreaks effectively. Enhanced border protocols, including disinfection and ivermectin treatments for imports, underscore a commitment to protecting livestock health.

“I feel confident that we are aggressively attacking all pieces of NWS,” she says.

What Does the MAHA Movement’s Mean for Dairy?
The “Make America Healthy Again” movement aims to revamp the nation’s food system, and Rollins offers reassurance dairy products at the forefront.

“Health care costs too much. We’re not getting the care we need, especially to vulnerable populations. How do we fix that?” she asks. “Over the last year, it is completely flipped to, what are Americans eating? What are we serving in our schools? What are we serving in our SNAP program, which 42 million Americans are on the food stamp program.”

While the current economic situation is troubling, Rollins is confident in the long-term potential for profitability and sustainability in the dairy industry.

“What milk, cheese and other dairy products mean as we completely and fundamentally shift our entire food system is our dairy industry is at the very front tip of the spear,” she says, noting the response markets are answering and the dairy industry, too, with the $11 billion in new processing plants, U.S. dairy is riding a wave of momentum that is fueled by consumer demand.

“In the long term, I’m not sure there is an agriculture industry that has more to gain and that will see more of a pivot toward real profitability and real sustainability than this [dairy] industry. I could not be more excited to help lead on that,” she says.

Your Next Read:
Beef-on-Dairy Silver Linings in the Current Margin Equation

America's Farm Labor Crisis: Can Immigration Reform Save Agriculture?

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 19:24:01 GMT

Walking orchards in the Central Valley, is something Scott Peters’ family has done for four generations. With his great grandfather settling in the fertile valley in 1933, the family has been immersed with changes. From regulations and battles over water, to the fight for labor and immigration, Peters Fruit Farms is not only working to preserve the past, but also fighting for their future.

“Today, we primarily grow stone fruit. We’ve gone a little bit into the citrus just to diversify. We have the packing house, so we want to keep it running year round. Citrus is the winter commodity, and stone fruit is the summer commodity,” Peters says.

The Peters are unique. They don’t just grow and pick the fruit. They’re also packers and shippers — an operation that relies on hundreds of employees throughout the year.

“Labor prices are really difficult for us,” says the California peach grower. “As an example, our minimum wage is $16.50. When we compete against Georgia (known as the ‘Peach State’), their minimum wage $7.25. It’s just under half of what we have to pay people, which means we just don’t have a margin of error. If there’s something wrong with the crop — if we have a weather event — it stings us a lot harder.”

California’s Farm Labor is Skilled and Difficult to Replace

That’s the reality for farmers across California. Not only are regulations and water becoming expensive for growers across the state, but labor costs are also on the rise. And considering labor is the highest cost for fruit growers, it’s putting a severe strain on producers.

And while it’s expensive, labor is one of Peters’ most critical resources.

“They’re a very talented labor force. We can’t just go and get somebody off the street,” he says. “We can’t get an H-2A worker from another country who doesn’t know the industry. They can’t do the same job.”

From Arizona to California, to meat processing plants that span across the U.S. Peters says that’s one of the biggest misconceptions about migrant labor. People may think they aren’t talented or skilled, but Peters argues they’re both.

“The supervisors have these rings, and we’ll open them up to the size of fruit we want picked. They will pick a few samples off the tree, show them what sits on the ring and what goes through the ring. And the labor we have picking in the orchard, they will know — just by looking at the rings — which fruit to pick,” Peters explains. “They’ll just go from limb to limb, tree to tree, and they’ll pick the size that we’re requesting by the rings.”

Scott Peters shows U.S. Farm Report host Tyne Morgan rings they use to show individuals who are picking the fruit just what size of fruit they need to pick that day. With barely any difference in the size, it shows just how skilled the labor that works in Peters’ orchards are today.

(Matt Mormann, Farm Journal )

Peters says, to the untrained eye, the difference in the size of the rings is unnoticeable — making the labor this orchard employs irreplaceable.

“That’s how skilled they are,” he says. “So when people say they’re replaceable and you can get H-2A people or other people off the street, no, it doesn’t work that way. Those people will have no idea that small of a difference when we’re asking them to pick a certain size.”

The Broken U.S. Immigration System

The individuals Peters employs aren’t part of the H-2A system. Instead, his workers have been in California for generations, doing manual labor many Americans either don’t want to do, or physically can’t do, at a speed that’s needed today.

“The immigration system in the U.S. is absolutely broken today,” Peters tells U.S. Farm Report. “Why? Because they don’t have a simple, easy way to make immigrants legal. It’s complicated. It’s not very easily accessible for the people. If they find a way to do it, it takes them a long time. We have employees that have gone through the process and are legal. At the time, we did not know they were not. We had no idea. When they come to us, they show us a valid ID, and they show a valid social security card. As far as we’re concerned, we are hiring legal people. And then they come back to us down the road and they show other cards and say, ‘Well, now i need to change.’ Then we have to abide by the new name because of the standards.”

Results from Farm Journal’s Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor

(Lindsey Pound )

Agricultural economists from across the U.S. agree. In the latest Farm Journal Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor , 87% of economists said the U.S. immigration system is broken for agriculture. But on the flip side, 87% of economists also said there will be no movement on immigration reform in 2025.

Manuel Cunha, president of the Nisei Farmers Leagu e, has been fighting for a fix to the current immigration system for decades. He says the current 40-year-old immigration system doesn’t work for agriculture. He argues it’s dramatically impacting California’s agricultural landscape.

“It’s horribly broken, and you can’t band-aid it together anymore,” Cunha tells U.S. Farm Report.

H-2A Program Doesn’t Work for California Agriculture

The H-2A guest worker program may work for some sectors of agriculture, but it’s not a comprehensive “fix” for agriculture — especially industries that rely on a large number of seasonal labor.

While the program is vital for addressing domestic labor shortages, for labor-intensive specialty crops like fruits and vegetables, the H-2A program is designed to provide a cortical legal source of labor where domestic workers are often unwilling or unavailable.

However, Cunha says what the H-2A guest worker program is designed to do, and how it actually works, are two different things.

“The cost is prohibitive. It’s a broken program. A guest worker program should be what it is. You go to the border, get a card and come into California or Arizona or wherever, work for 10 months and then leave,” Cunha says. “The system today requires people to through a process in the countries where you have recruiters that control the workers. They, in turn, kind of manipulate those workers where to go and how much you’re going to pay me, then the person comes here. On top of that, to provide required housing, transportation and meals is very costly. In this state, at $23 an hour, no farmer can afford that.”

Cunha says these are all reasons why the H-2A program must be reformed.

“We also must have a guest worker program for hotels, restaurants and construction to where those workers can come in here, they work for 10 months in a rotation, they go back and then they come back again,” Cunha says. “But it’s a guest worker program and not allowing the country to select and choose who you want. There has to be a great working relationship on a guest worker program that works for my industry and agriculture and the other industries as well.”

40-Year-Old Program

The last major immigration reform in the United States was the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), which granted legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants and increased penalties for employers hiring them.

The legislation, now 40 years old, is something Cunha argues is out of date.

Efforts to pass new immigration legislation have frequently failed due to partisan disagreements and an inability to find common ground between parties and administrations.

“They use it so they can get re-elected every time. And it’s so sad that our legislators have that type of mentality. Let’s not fix it, because if we say we’re going fix it, that’s how we’ll get elected. That’s how we’ll get re-elected,” Cunha says. “It’s been broken, and it’s been a facade.”

Dignity Act of 2025

Cunha says the only solution on the table that would work today is the Dignity Act of 2025. The bill was introduced on July 15 by Representatives Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and Veronica Escobar (D-TX).

The bill not only focuses on securing the border, but it provides legal status to qualifying undocumented immigrants. It also imposes higher penalties for illegal border crossings and human and child sex trafficking. Not only would it address America’s farm labor crisis, but Cunha says it could help save agricultural industries that rely heavily on migrant labor across the U.S.

“This is the first real immigration bill that has addressed industries. The Farm Worker Modernization Act was just ag, and it really didn’t do all of ag. It only did the field and not the packing houses or the processing,” Cunha explains. “But being that we’re in the year 2025, many industries like agriculture have the same problem. Those workers have been there for years. And so somehow, we need to give them that opportunity to have a legal means to work here and to travel home.

Cunha says the U.S. has to do something new when it comes to immigration reform, and the Dignity Act of 2025 gives that life.

“The president continually gives off positive vibes: ‘I want the workers to stay here. They are important for the industries, agriculture, the restaurants, the hotels, the construction.’ So, those people need to be here. The bill absolutely deals with that. It makes them have dignity, respect and the fear of not being apprehended any part of the day, going to church or going to the hospital or whatever. They would have a legal card, and the bill’s doing that,” Cunha says.

For now, there’s a nervousness among workers in California — essential labor that supports California’s multi-billion-dollar farming community.

“The workers that are here are more than any H-2A worker that could ever come into the unit. We have 1.6 million. The Department of Labor couldn’t even handle that number if they wanted to bring in H-2A people. The system would blow up,” Cunha says.

California Farmers Are Hopeful

In June, President Donald Trump said he would issue an order soon to address the effects of his immigration crackdown on the country’s farm and hotel industries, which rely heavily on migrant labor.

Trump continues to send mixed signals on immigration policies — even with his hints of a fix for agriculture. According to preliminary Census Bureau data, analyzed by the Pew Research Center , the number of immigrant workers in the U.S. has declined by 1.2 million from January through the end of July. That figure includes people who are in the country illegally, as well as legal residents.

Peters says, considering the Trump administration continues to focus on agriculture, he is hanging onto hope. The hope is that Washington will finally find a long-term fix that helps farmers and protects the precious labor they can’t do without.

“They’re very talented workers,” Peters says. “They have skills, and they’re very hard to replace. You have to train the new person, and it’s how fast they pick up on the training. We’ve looked at robots that do pick fruit. The technology is coming, but it’s not there yet. It’s got a ways to go.”

Americans’ View on Immigration

Americans seem to be growing more positive toward immigration over the past year. According to a Gallup poll released in June, a record-high 79% of U.S. adults say immigration is a good thing for the country.

According to Gallup, these shifts reverse a four-year trend of rising concern about immigration that began in 2021. And with illegal border crossings down sharply this year, the Gallup poll found fewer Americans back hard-line border enforcement measures, while more favor offering pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the U.S.

What the AEWR Ruling Means for Ag Employers

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 22:26:41 GMT

A federal court in Louisiana vacated the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2023 Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) Methodology rule, which organizations in the specialty crop industry say will bring stability to agricultural employers.

This rule incorporated wage data from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics to set wages for non-range agricultural occupations.

“For the disaggregated wages — for those individual jobs that were done on farms for generations that like driving a truck from the field to the packing shed, constructing a corral on a farm for maintenance of livestock, driving other workers from the housing to the worksite — those disaggregated wages for which the employer had to search out for an individual state of jurisdiction and a separate wage rate to determine what to pay those workers is eliminated,” says Michael Marsh, president of the National Council of Agricultural Employers.

Marsh says this ruling essentially scales back the wage rate to a 2010 rule, which maintains Farm Labor Survey generates AEWR for workers. However, he points out that NCAE is among the litigants of a case in the District Court in Florida about the use of the FLS in configuring AEWR.

Marsh says the other troubling part of using OEWS data is that the FLS picked up those figures, which also inflated the FLS’s AEWR figures.

“This is a big deal,” Marsh says. “We’re very, very happy. However, at the same time, it doesn’t resolve the bigger issue, where the other 92% of the wages are generated from, which is from the Farm Labor Survey, which is a wage rate that doesn’t exist anywhere in the world except in this program.”

Marsh says that when the previous administration published the rule in 2023, the Department of Labor estimated the OEWS data would impact about 1.8% of all H-2A petitions and would cost about $375 million spread over 10 years. However, he says it ended up being closer to 8% and costing growers about $1.4 billion in additional pay over 10 years.

“The market needs to determine what range of wage rates should be, rather than a government mandate,” he says. “And markets will take care of themselves. They’ll determine exactly what those wages should be if you let markets work. For the farmer growing strawberries, the market is going to tell the farmer what they’re going to get paid for the strawberries, versus the government telling the market what they’re going to pay for the strawberries.”

Marsh says the suspension of the enforcement of the Farmworker Protection Final Rule also helps growers get back into balance as costs of labor continue to rise, along with the vacating of the OEWS data to set AEWR.

“This gets us down the road,” he says. “It helps to significant extent, it’s a big deal that these that $1.4 billion in additional pay for only 10 years from the farmers transferred to workers will go away, but at the same time, we’ve got to figure out a way to reconnect our wage rates generated right now, being generated by our labor survey, to the marketplace, so that we can bring competitiveness back to American farmers and ranchers.”

He says it’s critical for wages to fall in line with other countries, where lower wages outside the U.S. can drive out American production but also cause disproportional reliance on imports.

“As long as the FLS is still used to turn wage rates, that’s going to continue to jeopardize the ability of the family farm to stay in the family, and that’s the way most of agriculture is because our foreign competition is just beating the pants off of us. And it’s not just Mexico and Canada,” Marsh says. “We’ve lost our asparagus production to Mexico and Peru, and it’s just cheaper to produce it there and bring it in, cheaper than we can produce it here.”

Marsh says there’s still work to do with the FLS, but he says this ruling out of Louisiana is a step in the right direction.

“We’ve got more to do,” he says. “We’re hopeful that we can get the administration to the point where we can settle the rest of these claims with regard to the Farm Labor Survey piece in the litigation in Florida.”

Better Together: The Co-op Employee Experience

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 18:18:53 GMT

Cooperative organizations are rooted in a distinct set of values and principles that set them apart from traditional business models. While many recognize these principles as guiding how co-ops serve their members, they are just as influential in shaping how co-ops support, engage, and empower their employees.

At a time when the U.S. is experiencing the lowest levels of employee engagement in over a decade, cooperative organizations are bucking the trend. A recent engagement survey conducted by FCCS revealed six standout strengths in workplace culture, each directly tied to the cooperative model. These strengths are not accidental; they are a reflection of the seven cooperative principles in action.

(Angie Coleman)

By viewing employee experiences through the lens of cooperative values—member ownership, collaboration, and shared success—it becomes clear why co-ops often cultivate highly committed, purpose-driven teams. Here’s how:

1. Strong Sense of Purpose & Mission
Connected to Cooperative Principle #7: Concern for Community
Employees in co-ops understand that their work serves a larger purpose, whether it’s supporting farmers, credit union members, healthcare communities, or electric utility customers.

How the Cooperative Model Shapes This:
• Employees witness the direct impact of their work on their communities.
• Mission-focused cultures foster intrinsic motivation and engagement.
• Employees are proud to work for something bigger than a bottom line.

2. Managerial Support and Coaching Conversations
Connected to Cooperative Principle #5: Education, Training, and Information
Managers in cooperatives often serve as mentors, coaches, and supporters, not just supervisors. One-on-one conversations are used as a tool for reflection, idea-sharing, and development.

How the Cooperative Model Shapes This:
• Continuous learning is a cultural norm, encouraged through coaching and dialogue.
• Employees feel heard and valued through regular check-ins.
• Managers focus on employee growth and alignment with organizational values.

3. Collaborative & Supportive Work Environment
Connected to Cooperative Principle #6: Cooperation Among Cooperatives
Employees frequently cite strong teamwork and cross-departmental collaboration as key strengths in cooperative workplaces.

How the Cooperative Model Shapes This:
• Shared success is prioritized over internal competition.
• Departments work together to solve problems and support one another.
• A “we over me” mindset strengthens trust and cohesion.

4. Fair & Transparent Leadership
Connected to Cooperative Principle #2: Democratic Member Control
Transparency and inclusivity in leadership are hallmarks of cooperative governance, and employees feel the difference.

How the Cooperative Model Shapes This:
• Leadership decisions are rooted in shared values, not short-term gain.
• Employees experience open forums, accessible leaders, and transparent communication.
• Trust in leadership fosters higher engagement and morale.

5. Meaningful Employee Ownership & Involvement
Connected to Cooperative Principle #3: Member Economic Participation
Even when employees are not formal member-owners, many report a strong sense of ownership in the organization’s success.

How the Cooperative Model Shapes This:
• Employees feel that their input shapes policies, decisions, and improvements.
• Career development reflects long-term investment in people, not just roles.
• A shared stake in success drives accountability and pride.

6. Work-Life Balance and Well-being
Connected to Cooperative Principle #5: Education, Training, and Information
Cooperatives often take a sustainable view of employee well-being and work-life balance.

How the Cooperative Model Shapes This:
• Training helps employees work effectively—not just more.
• Leaders model healthy boundaries and encourage time away.
• Employee well-being is prioritized as a long-term asset, not a short-term trade-off.

Cooperative Values Drive Positive Employee Outcomes
The strengths highlighted by employees across cooperative sectors reflect a deeper truth: when an organization operates by cooperative principles, the employee experience naturally improves. Employees thrive in environments where:

✔ Their work is rooted in purpose.
✔ Collaboration is prioritized.
✔ Leadership is transparent and fair.
✔ They feel ownership and involvement.
✔ Their health and balance are respected.
✔ Their growth and development are a shared priority.

By staying grounded in cooperative principles, co-ops are not just creating great places to work—they are building values-driven cultures where people can grow, contribute and belong.

Angie Coleman is an Organizational Development Consultant with FCCS Consulting.

Your Next Read: From Boomers to Zoomers: Engage and Retain Across Generations

Rural America is Facing a Mounting Labor Crisis

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 21:02:49 GMT

The American labor market is reaching a critical turning point that could tighten labor availability in rural industries and slow growth across the U.S. economy. A new quarterly report from CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange warns that demographic shifts and recent policy changes may start impacting businesses as soon as late 2025.

From livestock and crop operations to food processors and rural cooperatives, this labor shortage is becoming especially noticeable in the heart of America’s farmland. Many producers are already struggling to fill roles, and the challenge is expected to intensify in the coming months.

“Barring an unforeseen change in labor force participation rates or immigration policies, the pool of available workers is set to shrink sharply in the next few years,” says Rob Fox, director of CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange. “The problem will be even more serious in states with slower population growth in the Upper Midwest, Corn Belt and Central Plains.”

Demographic Pressures Mount

Fox says the warning signs have been building for years. Labor force participation has steadily declined, birth rates have dropped and immigration policy has become more restrictive.

Between 2022 and 2024, nearly 9 million immigrants arrived in the U.S., driven by global humanitarian crises and relaxed federal rules. While that influx temporarily eased labor constraints, Fox says it only masked deeper, long-term trends.

U.S. fertility rates have fallen from 2.12 children per woman in 2007 to 1.62 in 2023, meaning fewer young people are entering the workforce just as the last of the baby boomers retire. In addition, labor force participation has slipped from a peak of 67% in 2000 to 62% today. Nearly 2.5 million working-age Americans have left the labor force in the past eight months alone.

“There is no single reason people are stepping away,” Fox explains. “It’s a combination of rising caregiving responsibilities, job skill mismatches, mental health challenges and higher disability rates. These are complex issues that won’t be resolved overnight.”

Shrinking Workforce Hits Agriculture Hard

The effects are already being felt across rural America. Farms, food processors, equipment dealers and cooperatives are struggling to find and keep the workers they need to maintain daily operations. Seasonal labor has become harder to find and full-time positions, especially those requiring specialized skills or long hours, are increasingly difficult to fill.

In regions with slower population growth, such as the upper Midwest and central Plains, the challenge is even more acute. These areas often lack the population inflows that help offset workforce losses elsewhere in the country.

While labor has been tight for several years, Fox warns that conditions are poised to deteriorate further.

“What we are facing is not just a cyclical labor issue; it’s a structural one,” he says.

Border encounters have dropped sharply since August 2024, signaling a steep decline in immigration. Combined with rising political pressure to increase deportations, the agricultural labor pool could shrink even more in the months ahead.

“Immigration has long been a key pillar supporting the rural workforce,” Fox notes. “Without a steady flow of new workers, farms and agribusinesses will have to get creative, either by increasing wages, automating tasks or changing how they manage production.”

Technology Offers a Path Forward

In response, more agricultural businesses are turning to technology to help offset the labor gap.

“The key to addressing labor scarcity always lies in innovation,” Fox says. “AI and robotics are no longer limited to the factory floor. They are increasingly being used in fields, dairies and food plants.”

A recent Gallup poll found that nearly one in five workers already uses artificial intelligence in some form each week. At the same time, the cost of robotics has dropped by nearly half in the past decade, making automation more accessible for a broader range of farms and agribusinesses.

CoBank’s report notes that many farm supply customers are using new tools to increase efficiency, improve decision-making and free up time for employees to focus on higher-value responsibilities.

Planning for What Comes Next

As producers look toward 2026, a combination of labor constraints, volatile input costs and shifting policy landscapes will continue to shape decision-making. Fox thinks adaptability will be essential.

“Technology will be critical to agriculture’s future,” he says. “AI and robotics can help farmers do more with fewer workers, boosting efficiency and margins. But investment decisions must be made carefully, especially in this uncertain economic environment.”

Until clearer policies emerge on trade, labor and energy, rural America will need to prepare for continued pressure.

“This is a pivotal moment,” Fox concludes. “Farms that plan ahead, embrace innovation and stay flexible will be best positioned to succeed.”

Why Keystone Cooperative is Investing in the Stock Show Industry

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 15:56:11 GMT

When it comes to hiring employees, Keystone Cooperative, Inc., looks for three core competencies: customer focus, drive for results and teamwork. The company says it is finding its next generation of employees within organizations like the National Junior Swine Association (NJSA).

“We talk a lot at Keystone about these core competencies, and you definitely must have all three if you’re going to be successful in the show ring,” says Nathan Hedden, vice president of swine and animal nutrition at Keystone. “You have to work hard at home and that will end up bringing the other three competencies along.”

Keystone is a farmer-owned cooperative with roots that go back to 1927, Hedden explains. Based in Indianapolis, Ind., the company operates in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Michigan.

“We have 2,000 employees at Keystone across four different divisions: agronomy, energy, grain, swine and animal nutrition,” Hedden says. “It really made sense for us to partner with NJSA. When we think about talent, we want to be the employer of choice in the Midwest, not just in agriculture, but across all different industries. We see this as the next talent pool to continue to grow Keystone.”

(Legacy Livestock Imaging)

During the National Junior Summer Spectacular in Louisville, Ky., Keystone representatives were on site watching the show and meeting young people from all over the country.

More than 600 exhibitors from 28 states brought 1,324 pigs to the event, says Clay Zwilling, CEO of the National Swine Registry.

“One of the things that was the most exciting for me was asking how many of new families were in the crowd at our opening ceremonies,” Zwilling says. “Probably a third of the crowd raised their hands. It really heeds to the passion people have for this industry and the excitement of the long-term engagement and sustainability of our side of the business for young families that are coming in and getting engaged.”

(Jennifer Shike)

Molding Leaders
NJSA is focused on developing the next generation of leaders for the pork industry, Zwilling says.

“It’s been really exciting to watch this grow and blossom and be able to connect really talented young people back into the pork industry,” Zwilling says. “The number of new employees and tenured employees at Keystone that have come through the junior livestock project, and specifically NJSA, is incredible.”

The core competencies that Hedden looks for align with NJSA’s focus, he adds.

“It’s incredible to watch little kids that we’ve got to encourage to break out of their shell go on to have success in the show ring and ultimately come back to the industry as talented leaders,” Zwilling says. “I think this alignment makes a ton of sense. I’m very excited about the future and appreciate the support of people willing to help invest in these kids.”

It’s A Big Industry
The stockmanship skills youth learn raising and showing pigs is another reason Keystone was drawn to support this youth swine program.

“We have 282 sites across the Midwest where we raise pigs today, working with an independent farmer who is actually taking care of those pigs,” Hedden explains. “Well, as those farms have grown, we’ve seen a lot of those operations that haven’t had pigs or maybe haven’t had pigs for a while and haven’t kept up with the technology that’s available today, want to raise pigs again. If you can find employees with stockmanship skills that can stand in the gap and help them learn and develop that, that creates a huge competitive advantage for us.”

The pork industry is full of opportunities, Hedden adds. He’s committed to helping youth see that there is more waiting for them after they finish showing pigs.

“It doesn’t end at the end of your show career,” he says. “Find people that you can talk to, maybe even ride along with, to better understand what they do. That may help you find your passion for what you want to do next.”

USDA’s National Farm Security Action Plan Targets Billions in SNAP Fraud

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 12:28:29 GMT

From SNAP benefit reform and fraud crackdown to the continuation of mass deportations with “no amnesty,” the USDA’s newly launched National Farm Security Action Plan touches on several issues that may impact the fresh produce industry.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins held a press conference Tuesday to unveil the seven-point plan, which the USDA says seeks to position American agriculture as a key element of national security and to strengthen the domestic food supply.

Among the plan’s action items: “Protect U.S. nutrition safety net from fraud and foreign exploitation.” The USDA says billions have been stolen to date from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by foreign crime rings.

Rollins held a virtual press briefing Monday evening in advance of Tuesday’s conference, during which she told reporters: “We absolutely have to get all illegal aliens off of our SNAP programs and make sure that taxpayer funded dollars are being spent the way that they were intended.”

The SNAP program is facing major reform from the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which intends to slash billions from program over the coming years.

As part of the SNAP reforms, Rollins says for the first time in USDA history, it is calling on “absolute” and “complete transparency” of data sharing for SNAP programs across the country.

“The largest program here at USDA is not a farming program; it’s actually the SNAP or the food stamp program,” Rollins told reporters Monday, adding that the USDA spends $405 million a day across its nutrition programs.

“And vulnerabilities within that payment system — our payment system — are a persistent target of transnational criminals and gangs,” she said. “Law enforcement has identified a troubling trend of transnational criminal organizations stealing from the poor and the American taxpayer by cloning point of sale devices and card skimming.

“Just based on what we have seen and some pretty major stings that have happened in the last few months by the Secret Service and by DOJ on SNAP fraud, [it’s] equaling tens upon tens upon tens of millions of dollars — just one case after another,” she added.

To address these vulnerabilities, Rollins says the USDA is actively ensuring no funds across the department’s 16 nutrition programs are being used to fund activities related to terrorism or criminal activity.

“In addition, the department will disqualify authorized retailers that are complicit in SNAP fraud or otherwise demonstrate a lack of responsible business behavior to transact purchases made with SNAP,” Rollins continued. “We’re also conducting regular assessments to identify risks and security vulnerabilities to the food and agriculture critical infrastructure sector, including transport vulnerabilities.”

Rollins says the USDA will be looking at the situation every single day, and that she thinks, ultimately, the reforms will be helpful to those who really need SNAP the most.

New Dietary Guidelines

Also on the nutritional horizon, new dietary guidelines are expected to land in the next month or two, said Rollins.

“Most people don’t realize what an important document or set of guidelines that is,” she said Monday. “It drives almost all of the food purchasing for schools, for prisons, for the different nutrition programs, etc.

“We are both, Bobby [Kennedy] and I, are very encouraged that we’re going to be able to change the game in terms of the quality and the type of food that we are feeding, especially to our schools,” she continued.

Rollins says they’re also working to get more smaller farms involved and tap into more locally sourced foods for federally funded nutrition programs.

Mass Deportations to Continue

Much of agriculture, including the fresh produce industry, has been feeling the effects of the Trump administration’s ongoing ICE raids and immigration crackdown since they began in June. During a Q&A at Tuesday’s press conference, Rollins fielded a question from a reporter who asked about mass deportation’s impact on the farm industry and if there would be amnesty for agricultural workers.

“There’s been a lot of noise in the last few days and a lot of questions about where the president stands and his vision for farm labor,” said Rollins. “The first thing I’ll say is, the president has been unequivocal that there will be no amnesty, and I think that’s very, very important.”

Rollins went on to say that Trump has always been of the mindset that “at the end of the day, the promise to America to ensure that we have a 100% American workforce stands, but we must be strategic [in] how we are implementing the mass deportation so as not to compromise our food supply.”

The ag secretary pointed to automation, government reform and tapping American workers as potential solutions to the labor crisis.

“When you think about the 34 million able-bodied adults in our Medicaid program — there are plenty of workers in America … So, no amnesty under any circumstances,” she said. “Mass deportations continue, but in a strategic and intentional way as we move our workforce toward more automation and toward a 100% American workforce.”

Your next read:

Rollins Says H-2A Reforms Likely Soon

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 19:55:53 GMT

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins says the administration is looking at ways to improve the efficiency of the H-2A guestworker program and make it easier for growers to use. Rollins made the announcement during a meeting of the Western Governors’ Association held in Santa Fe, N.M.

The administration will have more details coming soon as well as announcements from the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security.

“We have all been directed by the president to come up with solutions to fix and solve this problem immediately,” Rolins says.

Rollins acknowledges Congress will play a key role in larger H-2A visa reform.

“It’s a congressional act,” she says. “Significant changes can’t occur without our partners on the Hill.”

But she also adds H-2A reform is a bipartisan issue, and while long-term fixes are on the table, there’s an opportunity in the short term to alleviate the burden of the application process.

“The idea that the farm I visited this morning, here in New Mexico, Silver Leaf Farms, they provide 250,000 heads of lettuce to local schools and communities here in New Mexico,” she says. “They don’t have the capability when they need to hire a couple more workers for their harvest to hire and spend tens of thousands, if not more, on legal help to get them through.”

Rollins says the administration seeks to improve the processes to ensure growers have the workforce needed.

“How we can streamline the current process, obviously within current law, to make sure it is much more efficient, that those we are bringing in from Mexico or from wherever, from around the world, to work the fields, to ensure we have the labor force we need, that they’re able to do that efficiently, effectively and not cost prohibitively,” she says.

Specialty Crop Organizations Push for AEWR Transparency

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 13:19:21 GMT

Specialty crop groups in five states have come together to file a freedom of information request with the USDA to better understand how the agency calculates the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) that determines the minimum wages in each state for the H-2A guestworker program.

The effort is led by the North Carolina Sweetpotato Commission (NCSC) and the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA), whose members have faced sharp increases in AEWR in the last few years.

Chris Butts, executive vice president of GFVGA, says Georgia growers have seen a total of 31% in increases in AEWR during the last three years. And Michelle Grainger, executive director of NCSC, says growers in her state have seen an 18% rise in AEWR in the last three years.

“Any way you look at it and slice it, this has been a very challenging situation, and as our growers are continually faced with economic pressures for all their other input costs, to have over 40% of their balance sheets tied up in labor and not be able to know what that labor cost is going to be until mid-November, it’s hard to run a business that way as their first workers typically arrive in early February to the farm,” she says. “To not have transparency of how the [AEWR] algorithm is utilized to create a budget on what feels like very arbitrary rates that are sprinkled across the nation at different regions that don’t even make sense. Enough is enough.”

Butts says changes to Georgia’s immigration policy in the 2010s means specialty crop growers in the state utilize the H-2A program exclusively to meet labor needs.

“In the southeast, there is no fruit and vegetable production without the H-2A program because there is no other labor pool there,” he says. “A Vidalia onion is touched by hand six times during the planting through the harvest — the same for blueberry production, citrus production. Our growing industries are reliant on [H-2A labor], and until we develop technology for mechanization and automation to help our workers become efficient, we’re relying on this program.”

Granger agrees, noting sweetpotatoes are a labor-intensive crop, so mechanization is not a possibility for her growers.

“Any sweetpotato grower cannot have fresh sweetpotatoes on the market without hand-harvesting,” she says. “We also utilize labor to transplant. The crop that we have is labor-intensive from the moment we start growing seed, whether that be in the greenhouse or in a bedding field, to the moment it almost hits the truck on a case that’s going retail, food service, a consumer’s plate, etc.”

So far, the organizations that have signed on to the coalition include:

Alabama Farmers Federation
Alabama Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association
Alabama Nursery and Landscape Association
Blue Ridge Apple Growers Association
Georgia Agribusiness Council
Georgia Berry Exchange
Georgia Farm Bureau
Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association
Georgia Green Industry Association
Georgia Peach Council
Georgia Pecan Growers Association
Georgia Watermelon Association
International Fresh Produce Association
National Council of Agricultural Employers
North Carolina Apple Growers Association
North Carolina Chamber
North Carolina Christmas Tree Association
North Carolina Farm Bureau
North Carolina Growers Association
North Carolina Nursery & Landscape Association
North Carolina Strawberry Association
North Carolina Sweetpotato Commission
North Carolina Tomato Growers Association
North Carolina Vegetable Growers Association
North Carolina Watermelon Association
Michigan Asparagus Association
South Carolina Farm Bureau
South Carolina Peach Council
South Carolina Small Fruit Growers Association
Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina

Granger and Butts say the coalition has communicated with representatives in Washington, D.C., to voice concerns about the rising AEWR rate and possibilities for ag labor reform. Granger says the diversity of the specialty crops helps drive home the need for changes.

“Our elected officials, regardless of what side of the aisle they may sit on, appreciate the value of agriculture and they appreciate that North Carolina is a state that has a lot of specialty crops,” she says. “Our coalition, when we filed — it has since grown — it was 30 organizations representing five states and 13 unique different crops, as well as eight different state and national member advocacy groups. That diversity really excited our representatives in Congress, because it gave them something more to talk about.”

Granger says a great way for those in the fresh produce industry to help communicate the coalition’s concerns is quite simple. Communicate with elected officials and community members about the vital role that agriculture has in this country.

“There’s a lot of people that we interact with, who don’t quite grasp how reliant we are on labor,” she says. “Not all of these people are not that terribly far removed from agriculture. I’m constantly amazed, but I patiently provide information and education on how uneducated the American consumer is today about what it takes to have fresh food, quality food, safe food and affordable food on their plate. It doesn’t magically just show up at the grocery store.”

Butts says another way for those in the fresh produce industry can help elevate this cause is to get involved.

“If they’re not a member of that state or local organization that signs on the support coalition, join your organization and support them,” he says. “Then ask your regional organization, ‘What are you doing for these efforts, and how can we participate?’”

A Sigh of Relief? Trump Orders Pause on ICE Raids of Farms, Meatpacking Plants

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 16:17:18 GMT

President Donald Trump is reportedly ordering Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE ) to pause raids on farms and meatpacking plants, softening the potential blow to industries that rely heavily on immigrant labor. The news comes after a week of ICE seemingly targeting dairy farms, California produce farms and a meat packing plant in Nebraska.

New York Times first reported on Thursday Trump said he would issue an order soon to address the effects of his immigration crackdown on the country’s farm and hotel industries, which rely heavily on immigrant labor. According to reports, the new directive still allows for investigations into serious crimes such as human trafficking.

“We will follow the president’s direction and continue to work to get the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens off of America’s streets,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told “U.S. Farm Report” in a statement.

The Department of Homeland Security and top White House officials continue to say that ICE is targeting “criminals” and “criminal illegal aliens.” However, as more dairy farms and a meat production plant were targeted, that called into question if it’s just criminals ICE was targeting.

Recent Raids on Farms and Meatpacking Plants

The raid on Glenn Valley Foods, a meat production plant in Omaha, Neb., drew national attention. That raid is what the Department of Homeland Security called the “largest worksite enforcement operation” in the state during the Trump presidency.

Glenn Valley Foods was founded in 2009 by Gary Rohwer, and according to their website they sell steak, chicken and corned beef products to restaurants and grocery stores. Rohwer said he was surprised by the raid and had followed the rules regarding immigration status. The plant used E-Verify, a federal database used for checking employees’ immigration status. But the warrant by ICE officials that said they had identified 107-people who they believed were using fraudulent documents.

Congressman Don Bacon, R-Neb., told local media 75 to 80 people were detained, but four people were also arrested for assaulting ICE agents during the operation. Officials say an investigation is ongoing and additional arrests could be forthcoming, authorities said.

“While carrying out an enforcement operation in Omaha, Nebraska an illegal alien from Honduras threatened federal officers and agents with a box cutter. These are the type of threats and assaults our brave law enforcement face every day as they put their lives on the line to protect and defend the lives of American citizens,” McLauglin also said in a statement to Farm Journal. “Our ICE enforcement officers and agents are facing a 413% increase in assaults against them. Thankfully, no ICE law enforcement was hurt in this operation. The operation was successful and resulted in the arrest of 76 illegal aliens. This was the largest worksite enforcement operation in Nebraska under the Trump administration.”

It’s not just meatpacking plants that saw increased ICE presence last week. Immigration officials also continue to visit dairy farms across the country. There were reports of raids from South Dakota to New Mexico.

@HSIElPaso executed a search warrant at Outlook Dairy Farms in NM & arrested 11 illegal aliens for violations of fraud & misuse of visas, permits & other documents. 1 was previously removed from the US, 9 banned from the US. LeaCountySO HSILasCruces HSI Roswell #EROElPaso #WSE pic.twitter.com/PzLKBJIdQE
— HSI El Paso (@HSIElPaso) June 4, 2025

ICE shared a photo on X saying it executed a search warrant at “Outlook Dairy Farms” in Lovington, N.M. Officials say they arrested 11 people for violations of fraud and misuse of visas, permits and other documents, including nine who investigators say were already banned from the U.S.

The owner of the dairy farm told the Albuquerque Journal that the people arrested supplied him with false paperwork and that following an audit before the raid he’d been required to fire 24 other workers on the farm.

Worries were starting to mount as ICE raids ramped up on dairy farms, according to DairyHerd.com .

By the Numbers: A Heavy Reliance on Immigrant Labor

The news this week of the Trump administration putting a pause on raids of farms and meat processors is welcome news for those in agriculture. From dairies and produce farms, to meatpacking plants across the U.S., those are sectors that rely heavily on immigrant labor.

Immigrant labor makes up a substantial portion of the meat processing workforce, with estimates ranging from 37% to over 50%; however, states like South Dakota and Nebraska have even higher concentrations of immigrant workers in meat processing, reaching 58% and 66%, according to the nonprofit Migration Policy Institute

And a large portion of U.S. dairy farms rely on immigrant labor, with estimates indicating that over half of all dairy workers are immigrants. Specifically, these workers account for 51% of the total dairy workforce and are responsible for producing 79% of the U.S. milk supply.

Farmworker Justice estimates 70% of the produce industry’s farmworkers are immigrants. USDA’s estimates are lower, estimating that number is closer to 60%.

Ripple Effect of Immigration Crackdown

No matter the exact number, it’s clear agriculture- and the produce industry- relies on an immigrant workforce. According to an exclusive report by Farm Journal’s The Packer , the ripple effect of Trump’s immigration crackdown on agriculture could be far-reaching, if the administration revives its focus on ag.

Kevin Kelly is CEO of Emerald Packaging, which is the largest flexible packaging supplier to the leafy greens industry and based in Union City, Calif. The company has been in the packaging business for 62 years, and says the immigrant workforce in California is feeling uncertain and afraid.

“We’ve certainly heard that folks aren’t turning up to work in the fields, and we’ve seen it in our facility. And we verify everybody, so we know everybody in our facility is documented and can legally work in the United States,” Kelly tells Jennifer Strailey, editor of The Packer. “In our case, it’s brothers and sisters being deported, and other family members being afraid, and our employees staying home to help their family members move, to take care of them or to take them to see an attorney, that kind of thing.”

In an early morning raid, ICE agents are seen chasing farmworkers through an Oxnard field. The raids coming as the federal gov't ramps up immigration enforcement in SoCal. Continuing coverage of the ICE raids, protests and unrest - Tonight at 11 from ABC7. https://t.co/bSJpCk8byb pic.twitter.com/oQQismAu2j
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) June 11, 2025

He says there’s an irony taking place, as some of their employees voted for the current administration with the assumption only criminals would be targeted in an immigration crackdown. But he says “that’s clearly not what’s happening.” He says harvesting lettuce is back-breaking work, and it’s work that they can only find immigrant labor to do.

“We should be handing them gold stars, not throwing them out of the country,” Kelly says.

Kelly adds that half of the nation’s farm labor is undocumented. That includes electricians, plumbers and welders that the U.S. all relies on.

“And now it’s suddenly occurring to us that we rely on them?” he says.

The National Council of Agricultural Employers (NCAE), a national association focusing on agricultural labor issues from the employer’s viewpoint, recently sent a letter to the Trump administratio n.

“The Council and our members are encouraged by President Trump’s recent comments recognizing the critical importance of the agricultural workforce. His comments are spot on. After years of being subjected to pejorative policies that ignored the realities of rural America and often demonized those living and working in those communities, the President’s comments are a welcome change of pace: we must protect our Farmers,” NCAE stated in the letter.

NCAE also said “he success or failure of America’s hardworking farmers and ranchers largely depends upon their ability to find ready, willing, able, and qualified labor to help them complete the countless tasks it takes to grow food to feed the nation and the world.”

Why Can’t Congress Pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform

It’s evident immigration reform is a major issue for agriculture. No matter who you talk to in agriculture, if they use any part of the immigration system, they will tell you it’s broken.

With an inadequate immigration system in the U.S., why can’t it be fixed? According to agricultural economists surveyed in Farm Journal’s Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor , it’s too political.

One economist said, “Immigration reform is a huge issue for the U.S. economy and must be addressed. However, it is so politically sensitive that very few Senators or Congressmen are willing to push the issue.”

“Congress has a vested interest in keeping this issue unresolved in the current partisan environment,” said another economist.

“Getting anything started and passed in an election year will be tough, let alone something as confrontational as immigration,” was another economists’ response.

Greater border enforcement and mass deportations were two major pledges made by Trump as he campaigned to reclaim the White House. But as Congress continues to debate Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” immigration reform doesn’t seem to be on Congress’ near-term agenda.

Your Next Reads:

Bracing for Significant Disruption: Q&A with Emerald Packaging CEO Kevin Kelly in Wake of ICE Raids

Worries Mount as ICE Raids Ramp Up On Dairy Farms

Quiet Crisis, Unfolding Rapidly: Big Questions Remain For Next Gen Farmers

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 20:14:59 GMT

Florida fresh produce grower Jim Alderman says one thing is his biggest worry.

“Who is coming behind us? That’s the part that keeps me up at night. It’s not just about growing crops, it also passing down knowledge, discipline and our way of life,” he said during a recent congressional hearing on the aging workforce in agriculture.

Earlier this year, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) spearheaded a special committee report on America’s Aging Farm Workforce.

Four drivers were highlighted:

Aging demographics
Declining farm numbers
Barriers for new farmers
Regulatory and economic pressures

As a follow up, on June 4, the senate special committee he oversees had a hearing “America’s Vanishing Family Farms.”

“Unfortunately, the farming and agricultural workforce is aging and nearing retirement, and fewer and fewer young people are looking to take over their family’s farms or enter the agriculture industry,” Sen. Scott said. “We face significant challenges to agricultural production, rural community sustainability, and U.S. food security. Here’s why this matters: U.S. food security is national security.”

Recent stats he points to include:

1/3 of farmers and ranchers are over the age of 65
This same group owns more than 40% of U.S. farmland
More than 80% of farmers work a second job
Since 2007, 200,000 farms have disappeared
The 2022 census showed the loss of over 140,000 farms in 5 years. That’s an average of 77 farms per day. 
Since 2007, more than 40 million acres of farmland is now used for commercial, residential or industrial purposes
Farmland prices have increased 7% in three years

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) is ranking member on the special committee for aging and said, “To encourage younger generation to returning to Farmer we farming, we must invest in our rural communities.”

Witnesses shared testimony highlighting the pain points, overall trends and discussed potential policy solutions.

“As I travel the country and see farms across our great country, I see a lot of gray hair, and while the wisdom of older generations is critical, we must ensure that we make a way for young and beginning farmers to fill our boots,” said Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation.

What are those policy provisions that could assist with the farm labor issues?

1. The Farm Bill
In his testimony, Duvall shared a getting a farm bill passed by congress is critical to signal stability and predictability in agriculture.

“We need a modernized 5 year farm bill,” he said. “Rising interest rates, higher energy prices, supply costs that have gone unchecked, farmers will plant the most expensive crop ever planted this year, and many have faced a tough decision of whether or not to even plant that crop. This is why the farm bill and its Title One safety net is so critical.”

2. Estate tax provisions

Duvall also highlighted the importance of the estate tax exemption for farmers for transitioning the farm business from one generation to the next. He applauded the House for its consideration of in the One Big Beautiful Bill it recently passed, and encouraged the senate to follow.

3. Farm worker programs, specifically H-2A

“It’s time to modernize our outdated system, and only Congress can meaningfully do that,” Duvall said.

Alderman uses H-2A labor and says reform is a must.

“We are now dependent on H-2A labor from Mexico,” he said. “Without them, we can’t harvest our crops.”

For Alderman in Florida, whereas minimum wage is $12.50/hour, H-2A labor is compensated at $26/hour plus the expense of housing, transportation and visas.

Duvall adds the federal government needs to revisit its wage structure for H-2A labor, citing the wage rates were set by a study done 60 years ago intended to calculate on-farm employment totals, not compensation.

“We’re going to price ourselves out of farming,” he says. Duvall is advocating for an updated program and one that includes year-round provisions for dairy farmers, and other parts of the industry that need full-time labor not just seasonal help.

“How can a young farmer come back to the farm and bring his expertise that he learned in college, expand that farm without having a labor force to do that. It’s one of the biggest limiting factors we have,” Duvall says.

4. Economic stability, risk management and trade.

“The incentive to make a profit isn’t there,” Alderman says. “If the farmer isn’t going to make money, he’s not able to expand his operation.”

Aaron Locker, Managing Director, Kincannon & Reed calls this a quietly unfolding crisis that is rapidly cutting across the agriculture.

“And the consequences for our food supply, our rural communities, and our national security are serious,” he said. “The 1980s farm crisis didn’t just damage balance sheets. It’s changed the interest of being involved in agriculture. That gap is being realized today in board rooms, field office, agronomy teams and more.”

The witnesses answered questions about President Trump’s trade policy and tariffs, with Duvall saying farmers have supported the president’s long-term vision to bring a “level playing field,” but he also says this fall will be a critical time for some progress when farmers are slated to harvest and sell commodities at low prices with high input costs.

5. Regulatory considerations.

Alderman says there are areas of his fresh produce business being over-regulated, which has put extra financial pressure when competing with imported crops. As an example, he points to multiple food safety inspections which could be replaced with a one-time inspection.

And in conjunction with the regulation on his business, he has seen how a lapse in regulatory authority over imported produce inspected at the borders has negatively effected the industry.

“For example, the citrus industry with citrus greening, it’s devastated the cirtrus industry. We have gone from 240 million boxes of oranges in production to around 40 million boxes today,” he said, and added Florida produce growers are introduced with a new thirp or weevil every growing season, which takes months to contain and identify proper controls.

6. Provide mental health resources

Christopher A. Wolf, Ph.D. from Cornell University says its New York FarmNet receives 700 calls a year. Financial stress include price uncertainty, labor cost and availability, capital costs, land access, and estate and succession planning. Family-related farm stressors include health insurance, childcare, eldercare, and drug and alcohol abuse.

“Male farmers have a suicide rate 3.5 times higher than the national,” he said. “Financial stress is one of the primary contributors to the depression and suicide rate. Additionally, mental health stigma and lack of access to care are major barriers.”

5 Easy Steps to Better Invest in Your Employees

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 18:05:32 GMT

Each year, farmers make significant investments in their operations, whether it be new equipment, new technology, or infrastructure improvements. However, to maximize the return on these investments, they must also focus on hiring and retaining skilled, engaged employees. According to Dr. Bob Milligan of Dairy Strategies, LLC, one often overlooked but essential investment farmers neglect to make is in employee development.

“Unlike physical assets, employee development doesn’t require massive capital—but it does demand a commitment to fostering growth and continuous improvement. The key is making it a priority,” Milligan says.

Milligan outlines five essential employee development tools—ranging from one-time training events to continuous improvement systems—that farmers can implement to strengthen their workforce.

1. Create a Development Plan
One way to make sure employees keep learning and growing is by having a clear plan in place. A well-structured development plan ensures employees have clear goals for professional growth.

According to Milligan, a strong development plan may include:

On-farm training opportunities.
Reading materials, virtual resources and webinars.
Off-farm learning experiences such as workshops or industry conferences.

Milligan suggests that plans be reviewed and updated in late fall or early the following year, allowing owners and employees to align educational opportunities with these focus areas.

2. Develop a Performance Improvement System
Beyond individual growth plans, it’s also important to have a system in place that helps employees understand expectations and track their progress. A strong performance improvement system answers two essential employee questions:

What is expected of me?
How am I doing?

“While all businesses set expectations and provide feedback, an unstructured approach leaves employees uncertain, frustrated, and less effective,” Milligan adds. “Many farms rely on annual performance reviews, but research suggests they are often ineffective feedback should be timely, not delayed until year-end.”

Milligan notes that a structured performance system should include:

Providing ongoing, informal feedback to help employees refine their skills in realtime.
Frequent structured check-ins, ideally monthly, to review progress and reset expectations.
An annual strategic meeting focused on future growth, replacing outdated performance review models.

3. Conduct Stay Meetings
A stay meeting is a great way to check in with employees and keep them engaged for the long haul. Instead of looking back like a traditional performance review, it focuses on the future—helping set goals and make a plan for success.

During stay meetings, Milligan highlights three key areas to focus on:

Have a clear purpose: Work together to boost performance, job satisfaction, and keep good employees around.
Look ahead, not back: Unlike regular reviews, stay meetings focus on growth and future goals.
Make it a two-way conversation: Supervisors should listen, ask questions, and get input from employees.

4. Communicate
Good communication is key to keeping things running smoothly on the farm. Whether it’s working together as a team or making important decisions, strong communication makes a big difference.

“In my opinion, the keys to excellent communication are listening, asking questions, and psychological safety,” Milligan says. “Psychological safety means feeling safe to take interpersonal risks, to speak up, to disagree openly, and to surface concerns without fear of negative repercussions or pressure to sugarcoat bad news.

5. Create Career-Oriented Compensation
Keeping good employees around takes more than just keeping them happy—it takes showing them they have a future on your farm. Stay meetings help build that long-term commitment but pay and benefits play a big role too.

“Younger and often first-line employees typically focus on having cash as their compensation. As employees age, advance, and become more family-oriented, they seek benefits like excellent health insurance and a retirement program. Balancing these differing desires, especially in our difficult labor market, is a challenge,” Milligan notes.

Being flexible with pay structures and openly communicating with employees about their needs can help create a compensation plan that supports long-term retention.

Give It a Shot
At the end of the day, investing in your employees is just as important as upgrading equipment or adopting new technology. A strong, engaged team keeps the farm running smoothly, and when people feel valued and see a future with you, they’re more likely to stay. By focusing on these five steps, you won’t just build a workforce—you’ll create a team that’s in it for the long haul.

Your Next Read: Leading By Example: How this Employee Became the Best in the Business by Being Genuine

30 Minutes With Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins In Her First Week On the Job

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:13:59 GMT

Since Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024 , Brooke Rollins has been focused on how to build the teams and the plans that impact the trajectory of agriculture and rural America. On that day, while en route with her husband and four teenagers in their motor home to Auburn, Ala., for the Texas A&M football game, she got a call from now President Donald Trump. The purpose of his call: She was his top choice to fill his final significant cabinet position, Secretary of Agriculture.

Obviously, she had to wait for confirmation, which came last week on Feb.13 when the Senate overwhelmingly confirmed her as the 33^rd Secretary of Agriculture , but since that Saturday before Thanksgiving, she’s been on the go with an accelerated enthusiasm to understand the significant challenges facing rural communities that lost 147,000 family farms between 2017 and 2022 and why the cost of inputs are up 30% as exports are down $37 billion this year and likely to fall further in the months to come.

“This is a crisis, and this is something that I understand inherently,” Rollins said to kick off Top Producer Summit in Kansas City on Tuesday. “My promise to you is this, and my commitment will never waver, that every minute of every day for the next four years I will do everything within my power, with hopefully God’s hand on all of us and our work, to ensure we are not just entering the golden age for America, as my boss, President Trump, likes to say, but we are entering the golden age for agriculture.”

What Has Rollins Been Up to the Past Four Years?
Secretary Rollins and President Trump have worked together for almost eight years. She was in the West Wing with him for years two, three and four of his first term running his domestic policy agenda.

“This real estate guy from New York City brought that vision to life, and then in the last term, was able to really do some remarkable things,” Rollins said in regard to President Trump returning power to the people who just want a chance at the American dream. “I call it the great pause, the four years in between term one and term two. But I think the great pause allowed very intentional planning. It allowed a courageous and bold leader in President Trump to become a fearless leader and to do everything he can to bring America back to greatness.”

In the “dark days of January 2021,” as she described, Secretary Rollins helped launch the America First Policy Institute, a think tank established by former Trump officials to promote conservative policies. The idea was that those policies that made America great in Trump’s first term would continue indefinitely, not just for a second term, but for four years, eight years or 36 years, Rollins described.

First Week On the Job
Since being confirmed last week, Secretary Rollins has been in the Washington, D.C., USDA office for a few hours, but most of her time has been spent in Kentucky at National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville and Gallrein Farms and in Kansas visiting Finney’s County Feeder, High Plains Ponderosa Dairy and the National Beef Packing Plant .

Describing herself as “a reader and a studier,” Rollins seems adamant to hear firsthand from farmers and ranchers. She referenced her visits to the dairy farm and National Beef facility as inspiring, in a good way but also in a way that helps her understand the real challenges at hand.

Speaking to the crowd at Top Producer Summit, she shared her appreciation for the “entrepreneurial American game changers” who are doing their part to feed the world.

“It is so inspiring and a reminder of the very beginning of our country.” Rollins said. “Our revolution was fought by farmers, our Founding Fathers, like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. The backbone of the great American experiment is this community.”

Thank you @topproducermag for hosting @RogerMarshallMD and me in Kansas City, Missouri, with 1,000 of the Top Producers from across the US to talk about issues like expanding trade access and cutting regulatory red tape for farmers.

Biden’s ZERO trade deals and inflationary… pic.twitter.com/ejMxKxkRMG
— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) February 19, 2025

Farmer Q&A
Watch and listen to what Secretary Rollins, as well as Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas, had to say on stage at Top Producer Summit about these 7 topics:

Trade and tariffs — “ Let’s go barnstorm the world , and let’s go find some more trade partners and access [to market opportunities],” Rollins said.
Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts and modernizing USDA — “DOGE is a very valid and important effort across all government. The stories of waste and abuse were really just, not USDA specific but across government, beginning,” Rollins said.
Federal programs, such as CSP and EQIP — “Our commitment is that if there have been commitments made, those will be honored. Getting our arms around all of that right now is really, really, important. Again, going back to the President’s heart and commitment to our farmers, I feel confident we will be able to solve any issues that are in front of our ag community, that are potentially being compromised by the DOGE effort, while at the same time recognizing how very, very important it is,” Rollins said.
Future of USDA — “There’s no question USDA needs some modernization. I’m just beginning to lean into that as well,” Rollins said. USDA has 106,000 employees and 29 departments. “The Secretary is taking over a department where only 6% of the [D.C.] people work in the office,” Marshall added.
Renewable fuels — Prior to President Trump’s first term, he was “the first major candidate to support biofuels, and I think that carried him through Iowa in many ways. … We’ve got E15 year-round. I think that gives us some certainty as well. … The President is supporting that. I think we’re trying to figure out how to save 45Z, but we can’t let China benefit from it. Right now, China is benefiting more from [45Z] than my farmers and ranchers are, so we’ve got to fix that,” Marshall says.
Immigration policies and availability of long-term labor — “I have a full-bodied understanding of the challenges within the labor market, and I believe the President does too. … I believe that we will very soon be talking about it again. Clearly, the H-2A program needs significant reform, and Lori Chavez-DeRemer, she’s going through the [confirmation] process right now. … Hopefully she’ll get her vote very soon. We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Rollins said.
Trump’s cabinet members — “Our cabinet is comprised of people that have been working together and have been friends and colleagues for years, with a few exceptions. Bobby Kennedy is a new friend, but Lee Zeldin and I worked together in America First Works and America First Policy Institute for the last almost four years, Linda McMahon in education and John Brooks — these are our people,” Rollins said.

The True Cost of What Farmers Argue is a Broken Immigration System in the U.S.

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 19:56:35 GMT

Situated on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, Joe Del Bosque is a first-generation farmer in central California . The son of migrant workers, he conquered the American dream by starting his own farming operation in California in 1985.

“My father was a farm manager, so I grew up on a farm doing exactly what I’m doing today,” Del Bosque says.

He grows organic melons, including cantaloupes, honey dew and watermelons. He also grows organic processing tomatoes, as well as almonds and cherries. Del Bosque is one of the largest, if not the largest, melon grower for Whole Foods.

A Crop That Must Be Hand-Picked

Del Bosque says a lot has changed in his 40 years of running his own farm, but what hasn’t changed is the fact that most of what he produces on his operation has to be hand-picked.

“Melons are highly perishable,” he says. “When they’re ready, they’ve got to be picked.”

Del Bosque says if their crew would miss even a couple days of work, the farm would be at risk of losing a crop.

“The produce has to be picked by hand by people who can see the fruit. And these people are skilled and seeing ripe fruit and how to pick it,” he explains.

The Need for Seasonal Labor

Del Bosque and other California growers rely heavily on seasonal labor. His produce is ready to be harvested between June and October, and during those crucial months. Del Bosque relies on 150 seasonal employees to help pick the fruit.

“We have scaled back,” Del Bosque says. “I would say 6 or 8 years ago; we were at probably 300 to 350 employees.

Between water issues and the switch from conventional farming to organic, which reduced their acres, Del Bosque now employs half of what he did eight years ago. And still, one of his biggest challenges is finding enough labor.

“It’s not been easy, but we have found enough labor,” Del Bosque adds. “We try to focus mostly on local labor. That doesn’t mean they’re not immigrant labor; they are immigrants who just live locally.”

Mass Deportation Concerns

They also have crews that come from Arizona for just the season, but one thing they’re no longer able to do is find seasonal labor from Mexico that work for a few months and then return back home.

“During the Obama years, he tightened the border tremendously. And sometimes both people couldn’t come anymore. So that’s why we tried to focus more on getting people that were living permanently here in this country,” Del Bosque says.

That’s when the struggles with labor shortages started for Del Bosque and other farmers, with mass deportations in his own community.

“He tightened the border a tremendous amount,” he adds. “He deported more people than Trump and Biden put together. He departed almost 3 million people, which is a lot of people, during his two terms. I’ve heard that it was an average of 1,000 people per day. So, yes, labor got very tight then. That was when we felt probably the most of labor shortages and we lost fruit sometimes during those terms.”

As the Trump Administration took office, promises of immigration crackdown and mass deportations are back in the focus again.

According to the latest data from Statista, as of Feb. 5, the Trump administration had deported a total of 4,745 Latin American undocumented immigrants. Those individuals were returned to their country of origin and 4,094 of those deported were Mexican citizens.

With mass deportation back in focus again, Del Bosque says there’s a nervousness on farms, and in their rural communities, not felt since the Obama administration.

“There are no big cities. There are small towns of anywhere from 7 to 14,000 people. And those small towns are mostly farmworkers,” Del Bosque says. “And we would not be able to farm out here without these people.”

White House Says Ag Isn’t the Target

Stephen Miller, who serves as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and as Homeland Security, appeared on CNN, defending the President’s mass deportation plan and said the target isn’t agriculture.

“Only 1% of alien workers in the entire country work in agriculture. The top destination for illegal aliens is large cities like New York, Los Angeles and small industrial towns, of course, all across the heartland. None of those illegal aliens are doing farm work,” Miller says.

Bureau of Labor Statistics

(Mike Byers )

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, immigrant workers comprise nearly 20% of the U.S. workforce, contributing more than $80 billion in taxes annually.

And with shortages of labor already, the concern is mass deportation of those immigrants who follow the law, could make that shortage worse and drive inflation.

Labor Shortages

Not having enough ag labor is problem farmers are dealing with all across the country. Just ask Marc Arnusch, who used to be one of the largest onion growers in the U.S.

“There was a morning where I came out into the field and I had 250 workers helping transplant a crop out of Arizona into a field here in Colorado. And the following day I had nine employees. You just can’t control a variable like that,” the Keenesburg, Colorado farmer told AgDay’s Clinton Griffiths.

At the time, Arnusch was one of the largest growers of onions, a crop that used as Blooming Onions in popular restaurants. But when labor become too lucrative, he decided to completely walk away from growing onions.

A Broken Immigration System

Grower after grower will tell you the immigration system in the U.S. doesn’t work for agriculture.

“It’s definitely broken,” Del Bosque says.

“We’re up at 40 years from not having passed comprehensive immigration reform in this country. And it sure doesn’t look like it’s going to happen in the next year,” says Mary Kay Thatcher, senior lead for federal government relations at Syngenta.

Thatcher says even if the U.S. doesn’t pass immigration reform, H-2A is becoming too expensive for many growers to even use.

“I have been hearing story after story in the hallways here about really good producers and strong competitors having to go out of business because they just can’t afford the new effective minimum wage rate along with the other mandates that get put on them, be it transportation cost or housing cost or whatever for H-2A,” she adds.

Del Bosque says they’ve never used H-2A, and one reason is because of the cost and all the other requirements involved.

“H-2A is very expensive to use. The minimum wage for H-2A is like $3 or $4 higher than our state. Minimum wage and our state minimum wage are $16. And the H-2A minimum wage is over 19. Think about that. The guest workers have to be paid more,” he adds

With required housing and food, Del Bosque says it’s becoming too expensive to even utilize H-2A in the U.S. today.

“Fruits and vegetables that we grow here are all handpicked. And if we can’t grow the produce here, then they’re going to have to be imported from somewhere else, maybe Mexico, maybe Chile” he says. “They’re going to have to be grown where there is labor. I don’t think Americans want that. I don’t think they want to have imported food, to be relying on other countries for their food supply.”

If you want your food grown in America, Del Bosque says you have to have the workforce to grow your food and harvest.
And he says that’s why all of agriculture, no matter where you live or what you grow, must be united.

“We’re a little minority as farmers,” Del Bosque adds. “We farmers don’t have an any political clout, neither here in California or anywhere else in the United States. We need to stick together.”

Your Next Reads:
Much work remains to solve ag labor issues

How one small farm expanded melon sales to major retailers

5 Things You Need To Know About The H-2 Programs

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 21:56:14 GMT

As labor shortages persist in the ag industry, many farms might be looking at using the H-2A and H-2B programs. Megan Wright, senior director of business expansion at másLabor, recently joined an Ag Retailers Association (ARA) webinar to explain the key aspects you need to understand to be successful.

1. Know the Specific Type of Labor You Need
While it might seem obvious farmers would need seasonal, agricultural labor, it’s important to think through exactly what tasks those employees will be completing. This determines if you need to hire H-2A or H-2B labor.

“The H-2A program is designed for all temporary or seasonal agricultural labor needs. On the flip side of that coin, we have the H-2B program — that’s also temporary and/or seasonal but for non-agricultural labor needs,” Wright explains. “Maybe some of the job duties that you have labor needs for take place on on the farm, but heavy tractor trailer drivers would be construction workers, or maybe you need to build a new farm building. What if you have manufacturing-style job duties?”

The H-2A program is uncapped because agriculture is considered a matter of national security, but the H-2B program does have a finite number of visas available each fiscal year.

2. Start the Process Early
Once you’ve decided whether you need H-2A or H-2B workers, the legal process can start. Wright recommends beginning these conversations 180 days before labor is needed for the H-2B program and 120 days for the H-2A program.

“There are an infinite number of H-2A visas, and the filing process itself is also just shorter,” she says. “The true nuts and bolts again of the process takes 75 days in a normal scenario, and I say normal because first-time program users can actually qualify for what’s called an emergency filing at no extra cost. That allows us to shrink that down and have workers arrive in as little as 45 days.”

3. Prepare for Housing and Transportation Requirements
The H-2A program does require employers to provide free housing.

“We always recommend to think of housing solutions as the the first thing you do when considering the H-2A program,” Wright says.

And though the H-2B program doesn’t require housing, it can still be an opportunity to ease the process.

“We still have folks coming into the country, potentially for the first time, who wouldn’t know the first place to look for housing. As an employer, if you wanted to take that extra step to provide a housing solution for the H-2B workers, you would then be allowed to deduct rent. So, we actually do find that a lot of our employers go ahead and do that knowing that they can recoup funds spent again through those payroll deductions.”

Travel expenses are another area some employers might be surprised by. That’s because it encompasses more than just the gas or plane fees.

“Both H-2A and H-2B employers are responsible for inbound and outbound travel, aka getting them from their front door to your front door and then back home again at the end of the contract period. I think what some folks tend to forget is that this isn’t just the literal transportation itself. It also includes a daily sustenance. It also includes potential motel stays,” Wright explains.

4. Be Willing to Hire Domestic Labor Also
If you want to hire international employees, you must be open to hiring domestic ones as well, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

“The U.S. Department of Labor is in charge of the certifying process, and they’re clearly going to want to make sure that we’re not discriminating against U.S. workers by participating in these programs. You have to engage in positive U.S. recruitment,” Wright says. “As an employer, you need to be willing to hire a qualified, willing, available and able U.S. or domestic worker.”

The U.S. worker would need to have your minimum skill requirements and agree to the terms of the H-2 contract.

“If they come to you and they meet those requirements during this overall approval process, you absolutely have to interview them, and in that case, you would have to hire them on as well,” Wright says.

5. Stay Informed on President Donald Trump’s Immigration Reform Policies
Because H-2 workers have a lawful presence in the U.S., Trump’s deportation policies should not apply to them.

“It’s always important to note that Trump himself participates in both H-2 programs at Mar-a-Lago and at the Trump winery in Virginia,” Wright says. “But there might be misunderstandings, and there might be miscommunications. We might need to keep in mind that law enforcement may not be familiar with the H-2 programs overall.”

She recommends these best practices for avoiding any discrepancies with H-2 employees and law enforcement:

1. Your workers should have possession of copies of their legal documents, their passport, their visa, and are carrying those copies with them — especially if they leave the work site.
2. Make sure they have an emergency contact who can be reached at all times.
3. Create a document explaining the employee’s legal status in the U.S. and their rights (másLabor has these available).

H-2A Versus H-2B: Here's What You Need To Know

Thu, 23 Jan 2025 17:45:23 GMT

As the labor landscape continues to pose challenges, more businesses are turning to H-2 visas to solve their shortages. It’s important to ensure you have the tools to be successful with these highly regulated programs .

On Feb. 6 at 1 p.m. ET, the Ag Retailers Association (ARA) will be hosting a webinar to help members navigate the process. The webinar will cover the in’s and out’s of both the H-2A and H-2B programs for employers, with topics such as:

Program requirements
Barriers to entry
Best practices for employers
Pertinent current events

To register, click here .

3 Ways To Stop The Threat Of Complacency In 2025

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 19:36:43 GMT

In a world full of threats to our livelihood in agriculture, what is the biggest danger we face in 2025?

Is it election hangover, continued low prices or issues with the new farm bill? All concerning, yes, but I’ll argue the biggest threat to businesses of all sizes is actually internal. It’s one word: complacency. It’s that tendency toward thinking deep issues will go away. Complacency happens to our operations when we decide we are simply too busy working in the business to work on the business.

Fortunately, there are a couple quick call outs you can consider.

Three Ways to Stop Complacency in 2025

Hire right.
Have you taken an honest look at how you are building your bench for the future? How far from retirement are you right now? Have you begun that new CEO search?

Besides your own successor, what does hiring look like for your team in 2025 and into the next two to three years. Most importantly, is this topic getting the attention it deserves? While many top producers don’t enjoy the process of hiring and firing, avoiding it means not being prepared for changes, emergencies and long-term growth.
Solve the problem even if you inherited it.
I’ve heard many times from second- or third-generation producers that they just “have to live with” some problems because they inherited them. Just because you didn’t initiate the problem doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to solve it. In the past two columns we even talked about culture change and how to shift culture, so you might take a re-read of those if this topic hits home.

Complacency really takes root with the attitude of: “Well, I didn’t create this mess, why should I clean it up?” Instead, look at ways to become proactive and take the necessary steps to rectify long-term problems. What aspect of your business is messy and requires the necessary clean up this year? What have you been avoiding in the operation that must be resolved to grow and thrive?
Build anew.
Radical change is sometimes the easiest fix. While that seems ridiculous in light of what we just covered in number two, often, when it’s time to change, it’s time to change big. Take a look at all aspects of your business and marketing model. Is the process of change already happening to you while you’ve not yet begun to shift with it? For example, new markets, such as programs in sustainability, are becoming mainstream. Does is make sense to wait until full adaptation of these initiatives or is there a fit for your business in the near term?

“Fix it, close it or sell it’’ was a favorite slogan credited to former General Electric CEO, Jack Welch. What this means is that there are diminishing returns by being in a business where you are not the market leader. Maybe a new diversified business line that supports your more traditional production system is the way to build anew. Either way, looking at where the future of your business could be at least once a year is essential and keeps you ahead of the complacency trap.

Dear Reader: After 10 years and nearly 40 editions, it’s time to retire The Farm CEO Coach column from Top Producer Magazine. The Farm Journal brands are trusted, reliable sources of information and commentary, and it is an honor to engage with this organization and readers. I am still writing, coaching and consulting in agriculture and look forward to continued occasions to work with the portfolio of magazines when the opportunity presents. Stay in touch by connecting on LinkedIn or Instagram.

25 Labor Goals for 2025: Enhancing Performance Through Employee Evaluations

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:56:18 GMT

The beginning of a new year can serve as a time to sit down with farm employees and go over their performance. Measuring their performance can help you both identify how well the employee executes on explicit and implicit standards, goals and priorities.

One of the most important duties you will have as an employer is to evaluate employee performance . Letting an employee know how he or she is performing can encourage the employee to perform at a high level, and letting the employee know he or she has fallen short can help reinforce expectations. You should attempt to do evaluations in a positive manner, and keep a written record of the evaluations to help document job performance.

“By asking specific, targeted questions in employee evaluations, managers can really dive into individual performance, employee motivations, and goals. This added level of depth shows employees their development is valued and gives managers ways to help employees grow,” says Natalie Wickham of Quantum Workplace. “Employee performance reviews are key to understanding and improving employee performance. But all too often, employee reviews fall flat and have little impact because managers are asking the wrong performance review questions.”

Instead of asking the wrong questions, Wickham suggests asking these instead:

Overall Performance

What accomplishments this year are you most proud of?
Which goals did you meet? Which goals fell short?
What motivates you to get your job done?
What can I do to make your job more enjoyable?
What are your ideal working conditions to be the most productive?

Employee Strengths

What personal strengths help you do your job effectively?
What makes you the best fit for your position?
What skills do you have that you believe we could use more effectively?
What kind of work comes easiest to you?

Areas of Improvement

What goals were you least proud of? Why? How will you do those differently in the future?
What challenges have you faced in your role, and how can we work together to address them?
What 2-3 things will you focus on in the next year to help you grow and develop?
What can I do to help you better meet your goals?

Current Role

Which job responsibilities/tasks do you enjoy most? Which do you least enjoy?
How do you think your role helps the company succeed?
What do you like least about your current role? What would you change?
What do you like most about working for this company?

Future Outlook

What are your most important goals for the next year?
What do you want your next position at this company to be? How would your responsibilities change?
What professional growth opportunities would you like to explore in order to get there?
What type of growth is most important to you?

Manager-Employee Relationship

What (if any) concerns do you have when it comes to giving me feedback? How can I alleviate those concerns?
What additional resources or support could I provide to help you succeed in your position?
How do you prefer to receive feedback and/or recognition for your work?
What are two to three things could I do differently to better manage you?
What do I do that is most/least helpful for you when it comes to completing your work?
What can we do to improve our relationship?

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What The Trump Administration's Mass Deportation Plans Could Mean for Agriculture

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:47:38 GMT

Farmers and food industry leaders are warning that President-elect Donad Trump’s plans to deport millions of immigrants could devastate agriculture — an industry in which immigrants make up a good chunk of the workforce.

Nearly half of all farmworkers are undocumented, and industries such as dairy and meatpacking plants are especially vulnerable to labor shortages.

“Admittedly, there are some people who slip through,” says Scott VanderWal, vice president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. “Perspective employers are required to take documentation that appears to be legal and valid. There are times when that’s not the case and then ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] comes in and cleans house, the workers disappear and go wherever they take them and the employers are left without help.”

While the H-2A visa program has grown, it only covers seasonal work and cannot replace year-round jobs at meat processing plants and on dairy and pork farms.

“Our packing plants need labor. Many of our farms use temporary visa labor — educated, skilled individuals work on our sow farms,” says Lori Stevemer, president of the National Pork Producers Council. “We have been experiencing an increased number of denials over the past year, which really makes it a challenge to find workers. The H-2A visa doesn’t work well when we have animals that need care 24/7, year-round.”

Experts say mass deportations would disrupt food production, raise prices and jeopardize the stability of U.S. agriculture.

Deportation falls under the Department of Homeland Security. President-elect Trump has selected South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem to lead that agency.

“With Governor Noem at the helm, she’s going to bring common sense to that discussion and make sure we don’t close businesses, make sure we get everyone in line, get the workforce in line and then make sure we’re following our country’s rules,” says Hunter Roberts, secretary of South Dakota’s Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Meanwhile, farm groups continue to urge for reforms to immigration policies or a guest worker program to secure a stable workforce.

“At the same time as controlling the border, we need to overhaul our labor system,” VanderWal says. “We need to make H-2A apply to your own workers or come up with a decent program that will help.”

We need some type of H-2A visa reform to allow those workers to stay year-round, Stevemer adds.

Even then immigration is likely to continue to be a political hot potato in 2025, and labor shortages will continue to top the list of challenges for agriculture.

2025 Ag Workplace Trends: What Employers are Saying

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:24:00 GMT

“What are you hearing out there? Are employers still hiring?” These are common questions posed to AgCareers.com as a job board and human resources service provider specific to the agriculture and food industry.

To help agricultural employers compete for top talent, we not only analyze what is happening on our job board and learn from conversations with employers, but we also aim to identify issues, opportunities and trends by surveying agricultural employers in our annual HR Review.

Pressure is on for Employers
AgCareers.com recently analyzed the 2025 Agriculture and Food HR Review data to provide an outlook of what agricultural employers experienced in 2024 and what they expect in 2025. Retention continues to be top of mind for employers, persistent even into the focus of recruitment strategies in the new year. Employers are also feeling the pressure to get compensation right, along with concerns about rising wage rates. Most employers are experiencing recruitment difficulties, amplifying compensation and retention issues.

Agricultural employers need people, and keeping those they already have in place is a top priority. Staying on top of how to reward their employees is essential to retention. From flexibility to bonuses and appropriate salary increases, employers in the industry are increasingly aware of the competitive nature of keeping their top talent while enabling the ability to effectively recruit new talent when posed against both competitors inside and outside the industry.

The AgCareers.com HR Review details employers’ plans for salary increases, workforce development and training, benefits and more.

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