Increasingly of our Washington state apple, pear and cherry growers are being pressured out of enterprise by circumstances past their management. In response to the U.S. Division of Agriculture’s Census of Agriculture, Washington state misplaced 3,700 farms between 2017 and 2022 — greater than two farms per day. The variety of tree fruit farms producing a crop went down by 15%. And we all know these numbers are far worse in the present day.
The scarcity of seasonal labor and rising labor prices pushed by flaws within the federal H-2A program have been essentially the most vital contributing components to this development. Washington’s agricultural sector is basically primarily based on high-value, labor-intensive specialty crops. For instance, the price of the labor to develop and harvest an acre of Washington apples has elevated by 182% since 2013. The farmer’s earnings for that very same acre of apples has elevated by solely 7%.
And these will increase are straight affecting the viability of our tree fruit growers. In 2013, labor prices consumed a median of 37% of the test that growers obtained from the sale of their fruit. As soon as all of the numbers have been crunched for the 2023 crop, that quantity had risen to 108% — so growers paid 8% extra in labor prices than they obtained for his or her fruit. Growers operated far within the purple earlier than that they had even paid some other orchard prices, like gasoline or fertilizer.
These labor price will increase might be straight attributed to flaws within the phrases and circumstances of the federal H-2A program, which was designed to complement the home workforce with overseas staff on non permanent visas when no U.S. staff might be discovered to do the job. In simply eight years, from 2017 to 2025, the variety of H-2A staff introduced into Washington state greater than doubled, from roughly 18,800 staff to greater than 38,700.
Agriculture is seasonal, with complete on-farm employment in Washington fluctuating between 65,000 within the winter months to almost 145,000 throughout peak harvest in midsummer. Traditionally, Washington’s apples, cherries and pears have been harvested by staff who lived within the state, together with staff who traveled from state to state following every crop in its season. They’d arrive in Washington for the tree fruit harvest, which runs from June to November. However these sources of skilled labor have decreased steadily as present staff have retired and new U.S. staff will not be coming into the workforce to interchange them.
The scarcity of agricultural labor has been a acknowledged drawback for the reason that Nineteen Eighties, and it led to the creation of the H-2A visa program in 1986. This system supplies overseas nationals with non permanent visas that permit them to do seasonal agricultural work in the USA and return house within the offseason. Constructed into this system are provisions to guard home staff.
Growers are required to promote for home staff and rent these certified earlier than they’ll contract with H-2A staff. The H-2A program doesn’t permit farmers to interchange U.S. staff with these from different nations. Growers are solely allowed to make use of this program if they’ll present that no home staff are keen to fill these jobs. In truth, growers are required to promote the roles with all H-2A wages and advantages and rent any certified home employee who applies for the primary half of the H-2A work contract.
Growers are additionally required to pay their H-2A and home staff a minimal of the Opposed Impact Wage Charge — or if greater, an H-2A prevailing wage in every state. This yr, the AEWR is $19.82 per hour — almost 19% greater than Washington’s minimal wage, which is the second-highest within the nation. As well as, growers are required to supply housing and transportation for H-2A staff and provide the identical to the home workforce who can’t moderately return to their everlasting residence each day. These prices are vital, with non-payroll labor prices equating roughly $531 per acre final yr for Washington state apple growers — a rise of almost 500% since 2013.
Regardless of the requirement to pay these greater wages and proceed recruiting home staff, only a few apply for these jobs. In fiscal yr 2025, solely 32 home staff got here ahead for roughly 38,700 positions.
Contemplating its excessive prices and complicated administrative necessities, the H-2A program is a final resort for growers. That is demonstrated by the skyrocketing utilization of H-2A, whereas on the identical time, the variety of tree fruit farms has plummeted within the Pacific Northwest. Unsurprisingly, the bills of this program are driving an rising variety of U.S. farms out of enterprise yearly. And it will worsen if this system just isn’t modified.
Washington’s fruit growers have been advocating for adjustments to this system and for different labor legislation reforms that can guarantee each orchards and farmworkers have a sustainable future. Whereas there was bipartisan acknowledgment inside Congress for the necessity for broad agricultural workforce reform, no laws reaching this goal has been capable of cross each the Home and Senate within the almost 4 many years since this program was created.
Washington’s tree fruit producers can’t afford to attend any longer. Thankfully, the U.S. Division of Labor just lately provided some much-needed aid to contributors within the H-2A visa program and addressed one in every of its most important flaws. In a brand new Interim Ultimate Rule revealed in October, the company has improved the calculation technique and accuracy of the Opposed Impact Wage Charge.
Over the previous decade, the system has allowed the Opposed Impact Wage Charge in Washington state to extend by 59%, when common employment prices as tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Value Index have elevated by 31%. The brand new rule realigns the AEWR with precise market circumstances.
How does it do this? The rule ends using a USDA survey that was by no means supposed for use as a information to set wages and replaces it with a Bureau of Labor Statistics survey that’s extra reflective of the wages farmers truly pay. For instance, it’s going to generate wage information that’s extra granular — producing outcomes at a state degree as a substitute of a regional degree.
The brand new rule additionally acknowledges that some agricultural work requires superior abilities and must be compensated at the next charge. It units a unique wage primarily based on two ability ranges, with issues like job expertise, certifications, degree of oversight wanted and diploma of issue. Constructing a sustainable, pretty compensated workforce is important to the tree fruit business, and this new rule will assist H-2A employers higher obtain this.
The brand new rule additionally acknowledges that home staff should pay for his or her housing out of their salaries, whereas H-2A staff obtain free housing from their employer. To keep up parity, the wage charge for H-2A staff can be adjusted to replicate what home staff of their state pay out of their wages for housing primarily based on truthful market rents from the U.S. Division of Housing and City Growth.
And not using a devoted, expert home workforce and a reformed H-2A program, extra of our household farms will fail. We should have a robust workforce that’s well-compensated at wages that growers can afford. At stake is an business vital to the state economic system and to its identification. Washington’s tree fruit is understood around the globe for its high quality, taste and contribution to our well being.
If we will’t compete, Washington customers must depend on meals produced in different states or nations the place staff will not be paid as properly and don’t obtain the employee protections provided in Washington state.
The current adjustments are an excellent begin, however additional reforms and motion by Congress are wanted to make sure that our state’s growers have the seasonal assist they want, and that these staff are paid correctly for the vital work they do. Solely then can we proceed to have orchards and farms that feed our neighbors and assist our state’s economic system.
