AFBF - American Farm Bureau Federation

08/11/2026 | News release | Distributed by Public on 08/11/2026 15:08

AFBF Calls on Congress to Stabilize the Adverse Effect Wage Rate

Cameron Castillo

Associate Economist

Chad Smith

Associate News Service Editor, NAFB

New Adverse Effect Wage Rates have been announced for H2-A employees. Chad Smith has details on which states will see increases.

Smith: Farms and ranches who employ workers under the H2-A program now have their federally mandated minimum wage under the new Adverse Effect Wage Rate. Cameron Castillo, an associate economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, says wages are set to increase almost entirely across the board.
Castillo: Overall, we're seeing wages rise. In some states, we are seeing some pretty staggering changes from last year. Kansas, North Dakota, and Nebraska, just to name a few, have some pretty eye-popping numbers, at or around 20 percent in an increase year-to-year. They are going to struggle.
Smith: This is the first full year of AEWR wage rates under new guidance from the Department of Labor.
Castillo: The AEWR is determined by the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics Survey that is conducted by the Department of Labor. So that is published in the summertime every year, and it varies by jurisdiction, so each state and territory in the United States has its own AEWR rate.
Smith: While some progress has been made via the new guidance, there are still gaps that Congress can fix. House Ag Chair GT Thompson's "Securing Agricultural Workforce Act" offers a cap on year-to-year increases in the wage rate.
Castillo: A provision that would cap year-to year-increases in the Adverse Effect Wage Rate at 3.25 percent. The outrageous increases that we see in Kansas, Nebraska, and North Dakota, would have been limited to 3.25 percent if Chairman Thompson's bipartisan legislation were the law of the land.
Smith: For more information, go to fb.org/intel. Chad Smith, Washington.
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