Employer guideRead at source, 3 September 2026
Farm Labor Shortage 2026: H-2A Dependence, Wage Trends and What Growers and Co-ops Pay to Recruit
Three things happened in the last thirteen months that change how this question should be answered. H-2A certified positions reached 398,258 in fiscal 2025, up 185 percent in a decade. The federal survey that set the H-2A wage floor was discontinued on 28 August 2025, so its replacement was built on different data in an interim final rule. And on 26 August 2026 a federal court held that replacement methodology unlawful; the Department of Labor published its compliance position on 2 September 2026, confirming that current wage rates stand until new ones are issued and that a contingent back-pay period opened that day. If you employ H-2A workers, that last paragraph is nine days old and is the most important thing on this page. Everything here was read at USDA, the Department of Labor or the Federal Register on 3 September 2026.
H-2A is the only part of this labour market that is unambiguously growing
The Office of Foreign Labor Certification publishes positions certified each fiscal year, which is the number of worker positions approved, not applications and not visas issued. That series has risen every single year for a decade: 139,832 in fiscal 2015 to 398,258 in fiscal 2025. Three quarters into fiscal 2026, through 30 June, another 349,867 had been certified. Concentration is extreme in two directions: 82 percent of fiscal 2025 positions were a single occupation, farmworkers and labourers in crop, nursery and greenhouse work, and the top five states took 49 percent of the national total.
Certified positions are not people and not full-time jobs. USDA converts them: the 385,000 positions certified in fiscal 2024 averaged 5.75 months and amount to roughly 184,000 full-year equivalents, against about 315,500 visas actually issued. Put that beside hired farm employment and the dependence becomes measurable. Against the direct-hire count of 679,800, 184,000 full-year equivalents is about 27 percent; against the broader 1.18 million measure that includes farm labour contractors, about 16 percent. Both of those are our arithmetic on published figures, not numbers USDA prints.
| State | FY2025 positions certified | Share of national | FY2026 through Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | 56,934 | 14.3% | 35,193 |
| Georgia | 42,723 | 10.7% | 39,586 — now first |
| California | 35,138 | 8.8% | 31,467 |
| Washington | 34,560 | 8.7% | 33,228 |
| North Carolina | 26,123 | 6.6% | 25,704 |
| Michigan | 16,038 | 4.0% | 14,694 |
| Texas | 15,945 | 4.0% | 15,278 |
| Louisiana | 14,631 | 3.7% | 11,965 |
| Arizona | 13,935 | 3.5% | Out of the top ten |
| New York | 10,658 | 2.7% | 8,865 |
| United States | 398,258 | 100% | 349,867 |
What happened to the wage floor, and what the court did nine days ago
For decades the Adverse Effect Wage Rate — the minimum an H-2A employer must offer, set so that foreign labour does not undercut domestic wages — was calculated from the USDA Farm Labor Survey. That survey was discontinued with effect from 31 August 2025, the agency describing the collection as duplicative or no longer necessary. Its final release was 21 May 2025 and its last annual averages are for 2024.
The Department of Labor replaced the methodology by interim final rule at 90 FR 47914, published and effective 2 October 2025, switching from the farm survey to Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage data and splitting each state into two skill levels, with a lower rate for H-2A workers where the employer provides housing. Rates for 2026 were issued at 91 FR 48946 on 3 August 2026. No final rule has been published; it remains an interim rule.
The 2 September 2026 notice, in the Department own words
On 26 August 2026 the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California held the interim rule methodology unlawful. The Department published its compliance position on 2 September 2026. As the Department describes it: the court did not vacate the rule and left the rates already issued in place; the current rates remain in effect until new ones are published; the Department was directed to produce a new methodology promptly; and employers may later owe wage adjustments for a back-pay period running from 2 September 2026 until new rates issue, if workers were paid below the eventual new rate. The Department states that no employer is under an obligation at this time to pay any back wages, and says it is considering next steps. We are not lawyers. What we can tell you is that the exposure window is open, it is dated, and your payroll records for this period are the evidence.
There is a second, unrelated piece of litigation to keep separate from that one: an injunction in a Georgia federal court restricts enforcement of the 2024 farmworker protection rule against certain states and entities, and it is why the August 2026 rate notice carries two effective dates, 3 August for most employers and 17 August for those covered by that order.
There is no longer one wage rate per state
This is the practical consequence of the methodology change and it catches people out. Under the old rule a state had a single field and livestock rate. Under the current one it has four: skill level one and skill level two, each in a version for domestic workers and a lower version for H-2A workers where housing is provided. Any source telling you the 2026 rate for your state is quoting one of four numbers without saying which. All four, for every state, are on our H-2A program page.
| State | Level I, domestic | Level II, domestic | Level I, H-2A | Level II, H-2A |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | $16.93 | $19.62 | $14.49 | $17.18 |
| California | $16.59 | $18.60 | $13.52 | $15.53 |
| New York | $16.17 | $19.25 | $13.62 | $16.70 |
| Arizona | $15.13 | $17.75 | $13.13 | $15.75 |
| Michigan | $14.45 | $17.64 | $13.06 | $16.25 |
| Florida | $13.17 | $15.71 | $10.87 | $13.41 |
| North Carolina | $12.84 | $16.82 | $11.15 | $15.13 |
| Georgia | $12.57 | $16.49 | $10.80 | $14.72 |
| Texas | $12.27 | $16.24 | $10.40 | $14.37 |
| Louisiana | $10.42 | $15.81 | $9.14 | $14.53 |
| Lowest and highest nationally | Mississippi $9.95 | Alaska $20.83 | Average rate used for labour contractor bonds: $15.96 | |
One warning about comparing years. Because the structure changed, setting a 2023 single rate beside a 2026 level one rate manufactures a wage cut that is an artefact of the methodology; several states show a level one rate below their 2020 figure. Level two is the honest comparator, and on that basis Georgia moved from $11.71 in 2020 to $13.67 in 2023 to $16.49 in 2026, and North Carolina from $12.67 to $14.91 to $16.82. Range occupations, which were never survey-based, grew cleanly from $1,682.33 a month in 2020 to $2,132.41 in 2026.
H-2A dependence and wage floor, by state
The domestic workforce the programme sits on top of
Hired farm employment has been rising, not falling, which is not what the shortage language implies. USDA puts it at 1.18 million in 2024, up 10 percent from 1.07 million in 2010 on the broader measure that includes farm labour contracting. The direct-hire count was 679,800 in both 2023 and 2024, which is flat rather than falling. What has changed is the composition and the price.
On composition, the National Agricultural Workers Survey for fiscal 2020 to 2022 found crop farmworkers were 32 percent United States born, 7 percent naturalised citizens, 19 percent other authorised immigrants and 42 percent without work authorisation. That survey excludes H-2A workers and livestock workers, so it describes the domestic crop workforce specifically. The unauthorised share has fallen from a peak near 55 percent around the turn of the century. And the workforce is ageing in one direction only: the average age of foreign-born farmworkers rose by close to seven years between 2006 and 2022, while the average for United States born farmworkers held roughly constant.
On price, farm wages have been closing on the rest of the economy. The average nonsupervisory farm wage was $18.12 an hour in 2024, against $13.99 in 2019. Measured against private nonfarm nonsupervisory pay, the farm wage has gone from about half in 1990 to about 60 percent in 2024, $18.12 against $30.13 in constant dollars. Real farm wages grew 1.9 percent a year over the last decade against 1.2 percent a year across the whole period since 1990 — which USDA notes is consistent with growers reporting that workers had become harder to find.
A number worth not repeating
A figure of 2.4 million open agricultural jobs circulates widely in coverage of this subject, including in the results that rank above this page. Set it against USDA total hired farm employment of 1.18 million. A count of unfilled positions cannot be double the size of the entire workforce those positions sit in. Whatever that figure measures — and it may well be a real statistic about something — it is not vacancies, and it should not be used as though it were.
What domestic recruiting costs, and when
Here is our own data, labelled as ours. Across Boostpoint agricultural campaigns in 2025 and 2026, cost per applicant runs $10.06 blended with a median campaign of $10.49, and it varies more by role than most people expect: seasonal roles $5.93, plant and grain operations $5.56, mechanic and service technician $9.19, applicator and agronomy $10.83, and CDL driver $21.13 — roughly four times a plant operator.
The larger effect is not the role at all, it is the calendar. The same campaign that costs $15.68 an applicant launched in May costs $5.58 launched in August, because every operation in a region competes for the same rural pool in the same eight-week window. We have that curve month by month on the agricultural recruiting cost curve page and will not repeat it here, but the planning implication belongs on this one: the H-2A calendar and the domestic advertising calendar are the same calendar, and the cheapest domestic applicants are the ones you buy before you know exactly how many you need.
Price a season refill
The rest of the picture sits on three neighbouring pages: the posting itself on the farm worker job description, the geography problem on rural hiring, and the same replacement-versus-growth arithmetic in a different industry on the construction labor shortage. If you are paying for training, some of it is fundable: see workforce development grants.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a farm labor shortage in 2026?
The federal data does not show a shrinking workforce. USDA puts hired farm employment at 1.18 million in 2024, up 10 percent since 2010, and the direct hire count was flat at 679,800 across 2023 and 2024. What has grown is the guest worker programme, from 139,832 certified positions in fiscal 2015 to 398,258 in fiscal 2025, and the price of labour, with the average farm wage rising from 13 dollars 99 an hour in 2019 to 18 dollars 12 in 2024.
How many H-2A workers are there?
The Department of Labor certified 398,258 positions in fiscal 2025 and 349,867 in the first three quarters of fiscal 2026. Positions are not people: certifications averaged 5.75 months in fiscal 2024, so the 385,000 certified that year worked out at roughly 184,000 full year equivalents, and about 315,500 visas were actually issued. Around 80 percent of certified positions become visas.
What is the AEWR for 2026?
There is no longer a single figure per state. Since the October 2025 interim final rule each state has four non range rates: entry and experienced skill levels, each with a lower version for H-2A workers where housing is provided. Across the states they run from 9 dollars 95 an hour at the entry level in Mississippi to 20 dollars 83 at the experienced level in Alaska. Range occupations are set separately at 2,132 dollars 41 a month.
Did a court strike down the AEWR rule?
On 26 August 2026 a federal district court in California held the interim final rule methodology unlawful. According to the Department of Labor compliance notice of 2 September 2026, the court did not vacate the rule, the rates already issued stay in effect until new rates are published, and the Department must produce a new methodology promptly. The Department also states that no employer is under an obligation at this time to pay back wages. This is a summary of a published notice, not legal advice.
What is the back pay period employers are being warned about?
The Department of Labor notice describes a period running from 2 September 2026 until new wage rates are published, during which employers may later owe adjustments if workers were paid below the eventual new rate. The Department says no obligation exists at this time and that it is considering next steps in the litigation. The practical point for an employer is that payroll records covering this period are what any later adjustment would be calculated from.
Why is the farm labor data all from 2024?
Because the survey behind it was discontinued. USDA announced on 28 August 2025 that it was ending the Agricultural Labor Survey, describing the collection as duplicative or no longer necessary. Its final release was 21 May 2025 and its last annual averages cover 2024. The same survey was the basis of the H-2A wage floor, which is why the methodology had to be rebuilt on different data.
How many farmworkers are foreign born?
The National Agricultural Workers Survey for fiscal 2020 to 2022 found that 32 percent of crop farmworkers were United States born, 7 percent were naturalised citizens, 19 percent were other authorised immigrants and 42 percent held no work authorisation. That survey covers crop work and excludes H-2A workers and livestock workers, so it describes the domestic crop workforce rather than everyone working on a farm.
What does it cost to recruit farm workers domestically?
In our 2025 and 2026 agricultural campaigns, 10 dollars 06 an applicant blended, with seasonal roles at 5 dollars 93 and CDL drivers at 21 dollars 13. Timing moves it more than role does: a campaign launched in May cost 15 dollars 68 an applicant and the same campaign launched in August cost 5 dollars 58. Those are advertising costs and buy applicants rather than hires.
Crew list short for the season?
Domestic seasonal applicants cost the least when you buy them early and the most when the whole region is bidding at once. We run the ads where rural workers actually are, and tell you what each applicant cost.
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