An Insider Update on Greenhouse Labor and the H-2A Program
August 5, 2025 Note: Greenhouse Grower Editor Brian Sparks recently caught up with Justin Bartlett, co-CEO and Director of Sales and Marketing at Legacy Labor, to get his perspective on the latest updates in labor, wages, the H-2A program, and more.
Brian Sparks: Can you give a sense of where things stand in the greenhouse labor market right now, and things that growers need to be thinking about as they get through the rest of this year and start to plan for next year?
Justin Bartlett: We’ve been in Washington, DC, a couple of times already this year, and we’re headed back this September with AmericanHort for its Impact Washington event. We’ve been boots on the ground talking to members of Congress asking for changes in the H-2A program and a freeze on the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR). There’s been some movement, as we saw an AEWR reduction in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan for this calendar year. But job orders that were filed in November or December that started after the wage went into effect weren’t able to change those job orders. We couldn’t amend those to get the lower wage, so those growers had to pay the wage from 2024. But at least they didn’t see an increase year over year.
In talking with members of Congress recently, I think that there’s more potential this year for us to see a freeze on the AEWR back to 2023 wages.
Right now the AEWR is based on the farm labor survey, and they need to change the methodology on how that’s calculated for each state, because it doesn’t make any sense.
The Department of Labor also recently announced that they are going to be suspending the Farmworker Protection Rule, and there’s going to be a 60-day comment period coming up, so we’re excited about that. I think there’s some provisions in that rule that just don’t make sense and are hurting the grower more than it should.
I think that we’re also seeing some movement on some regulations for H-2 A. Growers still heavily rely on H-2A workers, and those that were on the fence about using it, with what’s going on with deportations and the domestic workforce, I think that they’re converting. The ones that were on the fence are really thinking seriously about it. I talked to some growers over the last couple of years that didn’t make the change, and this year they felt kind of forced. But they feel like now’s the time. Employers must ensure that the documents provided by the workers reasonably appear to be genuine, but there are probably some number of farmworkers who could successfully complete the I-9 process but not the E-Verify process.
Brian Sparks: When we look at our Top 100 Growers survey, in the past few years we’ve seen the number of growers, or the percentage of growers, using H-2A kind of plateau among the top 100 growers. But we also talk to more smaller to mid-size operations. They might only hire two or three H-2A workers, but they are starting to look at the benefits of using the program. Are you seeing anything like that?
Justin Bartlett: For the top 100 growers, I think the ones that were going to use it have made the switch to H-2A. It should be noted that the H-2A program does not replace work-authorized U.S. workers; it just exists as a fallback plan where they are not available.
I do think over the last 5 to 10 years, the top 100 growers that we’re going to switch already made the switch. But I think there’s still some hanging on that did not make the change for whatever reason, and we’re starting to see some of those growers make the change because of what’s going on with the domestic workforce and the unknowns. They’re not doing anything illegal; they have had a workforce there for years, and they don’t know otherwise, but I think not knowing is enough for them to make the switch. They can’t have somebody showing up and taking their workforce in the middle of a 3-month season where 70% of their business is done.
Brian Sparks: When it comes to those unknowns, how should growers be thinking about or planning for that?
Justin Bartlett: I think the answer to that is that you don’t know, right? What we know for certain is the H-2A program works. It may be costly, and there’s a lot of hoops to jump through. There needs to be reform to the current program, and that’s why we continually show up in Washington. But until there’s a clear alternative, we know that with the H-2A program, we can file a job order, it can get certified, these workers can get visas, and once they show up we can all sleep well at night. We know the workers. They have to have their documentation on them, even as they’re traveling in cars and they’re stopped.
There is still a little bit of fear within the worker in terms of the unknown of, could something happen to me? We tell them to keep their documents on them, so they can show proof that they’re here legally.
Our job as employers is to educate them, to let them know that they have nothing to fear.
Brian Sparks: If I’m a grower currently using the H-2A program or considering it as I start to plan ahead for next year’s growing season, what do I need to be thinking about now in terms of how to prepare?
Justin Bartlett: I mean, if you’re looking to bring in workers in January, you should be thinking about it now. Whenever your season starts, it’s a minimum 120-day process. So four months before your date of need, you’ll want to have things in order and a plan in place. And if you’re getting into it for the first time, you want to be six months out because you need to think about housing, recruitment, filling job orders, and all the paperwork that goes with that.
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