Apple production—from growing to harvesting and packing—is highly labor-intensive, and there is no longer a sufficient domestic workforce to meet these needs. As a result, most growers rely on the H-2A agricultural guestworker program, while those who depend on domestic labor face chronic shortages. Apple packers and processors do not qualify for H-2A, placing them at additional risk.
The H-2A program is complex and costly, but the need for labor is so great that the number of H-2A workers has quadrupled over the past decade. Program costs, driven by increases to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), have outpaced both inflation and broader wage trends, rising by as much as 10 percent in some years. At the same time, growers face higher input costs while the prices they receive for their crop have remained flat or declined, leaving many operating at a loss. Some growers report leaving fruit on the trees because they could not afford to pick it.
In October, the Department of Labor published an Interim Final Rule establishing a new wage methodology for determining the AEWR. USApple strongly supports this action because it provides a wage floor that better reflects the marketplace and allows employers to compensate workers based on experience and skill. While the new wage methodology is very helpful, it is subject to change by a future administration. In addition, other H-2A reforms are needed, such as eliminating the use of state prevailing wage surveys and streamlining of the program. Examples of these reforms can be found in the final report of the bi-partisan House Agricultural Labor Working Group.
A stable, legal and reliable workforce is essential to sustaining a vibrant domestic apple industry. Every farm worker engaged in high-value, labor intensive crop production sustains three or more local, off-farm (but agricultural dependent), year round jobs. If growers lose their seasonal workforce or can no longer afford them, the economic impact on these communities would be comparable to factories closing and moving overseas.
USApple urges Congress to pass legislation that provides meaningful agricultural labor reform and meets the following objectives:
1. Provides a stable, adequate and predictable supply of agricultural labor capable of participating legally in the U.S. workforce;
2. Significantly reforms the H-2A program; and
3. Addresses the unsustainable escalation of mandated guest worker wage rates and simplifies and provides legal reform to remove unreasonable employer sanctions and regulatory burdens.