Some Segments of the Agricultural Economy Are Particularly Sensitive to Changes in the Foreign-Born Farm Labor Supply

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Labor shortages in U.S. agriculture have been a persistent challenge. Historically, the industry has depended on foreign-born workers to complement—and, at times, substitute for—native-born labor (Charlton and Taylor 2016). Today, about 70 percent of workers in the U.S. farm sector are foreign born, and many of these workers hold visas or are undocumented (Charlton 2024; Martin and Rutledge 2025).

Farms have varying labor needs, and specialty crop growers rely heavily on laborers in general and undocumented workers in particular. The horizontal axis of Chart 1 shows that greenhouse growers, vegetable growers, and producers of fruits and nuts require significantly more workers than producers of field crops such as corn, soybeans, and wheat. Specialty crop growers also use a higher share of undocumented workers. The vertical axis of Chart 1 shows that undocumented workers account for 30 to nearly 50 percent of workers in greenhouse, vegetable, and fruit and nut operations compared with just 10 percent of workers in field crop operations.^_ Although farm labor contractors (FLCs), which function similarly to temporary staffing agencies, have the highest share of undocumented workers, these contractors are used more frequently by specialty crop growers, further contributing to their reliance on undocumented workers.^_

Chart 1: Farm labor contractors and specialty crop growers use a higher share of undocumented workers

Historically, the supply of U.S.-born farm workers has not been sufficient to meet demand for farm jobs at the going wage rate, contributing to a largely foreign-born workforce. Farms could reduce their reliance on foreign-born and undocumented farm workers by using automation to reduce labor needs or by replacing undocumented workers with temporary visa holders through the H-2A temporary agricultural workers program (Martin 2018; Huffman 2012). However, these strategies are likely to be more costly and time-consuming. Despite the growing adoption of harvest machinery for produce used by the food-processing industry, machines able to preserve the quality of fresh produce demanded by U.S. consumers are still rare. In addition, while the H-2A program is widely used by farms to supply seasonal farm labor, hiring H-2A workers typically requires more foresight and would likely be more expensive than employing undocumented workers.

Participation in the H-2A program requires employers to pay predetermined wages and provide other employment benefits. To hire an H-2A worker, the Department of Labor first requires farmers to demonstrate unsuccessful attempts to recruit workers already residing in the United States for open positions. Employers must pay for workers’ housing in the United States, their transportation from their home country to the United States, and their daily transportation to the work site. Additionally, employers must pay wages above the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), which is set according to regional average hourly wages for farm workers and is necessarily at or above the applicable minimum hourly wage. As shown in Table 1, the average hourly wage for H-2A workers neared $18 for H-2A workers in the fruit and nut sector from 2018 to 2022, compared with the sector-wide average of $14.50 reported by the latest National Agricultural Workers Survey. Hourly wages for H-2A workers and costs for transportation, housing, and food have continued to rise since this period.^_

Table 1: Summary of H-2A workers by sector

Other aspects of the H-2A program may also limit its effectiveness as an immediate alternative to the current labor pool. Table 1 shows that the approval process for H-2A workers (“average days to decision” plus “average days to position start”) takes up to 92 days from petition to employment, a significant delay for farms that operate within specific planting and harvesting windows. Farmers who rely on contracted labor or who cultivate fruits, vegetables, flowers, and nuts already employ a greater number of H-2A workers than field crop operations and tend to hire them for shorter periods.

Some segments of the U.S. agricultural sector—for example, fruit and vegetable production—are especially sensitive to changes in the supply of foreign-born labor. Farm operators can adapt to labor supply changes in a variety of ways, each with trade-offs. Some operators may substitute foreign-born or undocumented workers with capital investments or by further hiring H-2A workers, though these alternatives are likely to be more costly and introduce delays. Others may reduce U.S. production of labor-intensive commodities, potentially shifting to other crops or expanding production in other countries.