Leaders of the House and Senate agriculture committees highlighted the need for urgent H-2A labor reform while gathering at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual convention in Anaheim, California, on Sunday, as lawmakers and farm groups alike warned that labor shortages continue to strain agricultural production nationwide.
H-2A usage has expanded rapidly over the past decade as domestic labor availability has declined. According to USDA data, the program now supports hundreds of thousands of seasonal agricultural jobs annually, with particularly heavy reliance from specialty crop growers, dairy producers, and livestock operations that require a consistent workforce. Farm groups say without reforms, rising costs, processing delays, and uncertainty around worker availability could further pressure already thin margins.
“I don’t think I’ve ever visited with an ag group that one of the first things that came up wasn’t labor,” Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) said during a panel discussion on the trajectory of agricultural policy for 2026. “We need massive reform, and the good news is on both sides of the aisle, I think that we are getting that message.”
House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson said he will introduce his agricultural labor bill, aimed at reforming the H-2A seasonal farmworker program, in the “first quarter of this year,” consistent with comments he shared with your host in December. Thompson described the proposal as a “strong, bipartisan document,” developed after months of discussions with lawmakers and agricultural stakeholders.
Thompson said the bill is expected to address long-standing concerns raised by producers, including wage rate volatility under the Adverse Effect Wage Rate, housing and transportation requirements, and administrative hurdles that can delay worker arrivals during critical planting and harvest windows.
He added that he will likely ask House Speaker Mike Johnson to allow the bill to move through the Agriculture Committee rather than the Judiciary Committee, though he acknowledged that jurisdictional norms make such a shift unlikely.
“I’ve already had a discussion with the Judiciary Committee,” Thompson said at the convention. “I think they’re ready to entertain some serious work out of the House.”
House Agriculture Committee ranking member Angie Craig (D-Minn.) said she expects several bipartisan provisions from the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2025 to reappear in the forthcoming farm labor legislation, including year-round workforce visas. She noted that such visas are particularly critical for dairy and livestock operations that operate year-round and cannot rely solely on seasonal labor programs.
Craig said broader immigration enforcement actions are also exacerbating workforce instability in rural areas and called for changes in how enforcement is carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“I got a text a couple days ago from one of my dairy farmers, and ICE agents were sitting at a gas station near the dairy farm and people didn’t want to come to work,” Craig said. “This administration, at times, does not act like they actually want immigrant labor here in the United States of America, and we all know that we need them in this sector of the economy.”
Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said she recently participated in a “three-hour meeting with some very conservative House members” to identify areas of agreement on immigration and agricultural labor reform. Klobuchar added that she is co-sponsoring legislation introduced by Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) that would establish year-round visas for migrant agricultural workers.
Klobuchar said while differences remain, there is growing recognition that agriculture faces unique labor needs that are not addressed by existing immigration systems, particularly as domestic rural populations continue to decline.
They are not alone in pursuing changes. MA readers may recall that several other lawmakers are advancing their own H-2A-related proposals. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) has said he wants to “get rid of” H-2A visas altogether, calling the program a “broken, horrible program,” and replace it with a touchback-style system that would allow undocumented workers to gain legal status through employment.
Meanwhile, Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) has said he wants his bill freezing H-2A minimum wage rates to be attached to Thompson’s farm labor legislation or incorporated into the next farm bill. Supporters argue such a freeze would provide cost certainty for employers, while critics warn it could face opposition from labor advocates.
As Congress looks toward 2026, lawmakers say the path forward remains complex, with committee jurisdiction, immigration politics, and competing legislative priorities all influencing the timeline. Still, the unified message from producers at the Farm Bureau convention underscored that labor reform remains one of agriculture’s most pressing policy challenges.
