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By Don Jenkins and Kyle Odegard, Capital Press

A federal court ruling requiring the U.S. Labor Department to recalculate H-2A wages for the season means farmers who hired seasonal foreign workers can’t be sure how much harvesting their crops will cost.

Paying workers the difference between what was in their contract and the department’s recalculated wage could total millions of dollars, or nothing. It depends on events out of their control and a future ruling by a federal judge who sees agriculture as highly profitable.

“Geez, it’s getting difficult,” Yakima Valley apple and hop grower Graham Gamache said. “We’ll just keep our head down until someone comes along with a big stick and tells us to get in line.”

U.S. District Judge Kirk Sherriff ruled Aug. 25 that current H-2A wages are too low to ensure foreign farmworkers are not undermining pay for U.S. workers.

He left the wages in place for now, but ordered the Department of Labor to “promptly” propose new wages. He also ordered the department to notify agricultural employers that they may eventually have to pay workers retroactively.

The so-called “backpay period” begins when the department notifies employers of Sherriff’s ruling and when the Labor Department issues new wage scales for H-2A workers.

Sherriff ordered the department to notify employers within a week of his order. The United Farm Workers, who sued to overturn the wages, has indicated it will argue for back pay.

“Until we know more about how this may impact our labor costs, we’ll continue doing as much as we can with less money and hold on by fingernails until we just can’t anymore,” Hood River pear grower Lesley Tamura said.

The Labor Department referred questions to the Justice Department. The Justice Department has not indicated whether it will appeal Sherriff’s decision.

U.S. workers on the same farm will be eligible for the same back pay as H-2A workers

“It’s a huge blow,” said Enrique Gastelum, CEO of the Worker and Farmer Labor Association, which recruits foreign farmworkers for its members.

“With this ruling, we know the wages are going to go higher. We just don’t know the gravity of it,” he said.

The Trump administration adopted the H-2A wage scale last October. The administration lowered wages in most states and authorized farms to deduct housing costs from paychecks.

The administration agreed with agricultural employers who said a domestic labor shortage forced them into the H-2A program, but annual wage increases were making the program too expensive.

Sherriff, appointed by President Biden, said USDA figures undermined that claim. He cited a USDA chart published in February that showed net farm income in 2025 was $179.8 billion.

The judge, however, didn’t note the rest of the chart. The USDA projects net farm income will start dropping after this year — all the way down to $93 billion in 2035.

Sherriff also cited a congressional report published in 2024 based on USDA data. The judge noted that farm income averaged about $124.1 billion between 2011 and 2021.

The report, however, also said farm income dropped in 2023 and that profitablity varies by crop. Income was driven by major commodities such as soybeans, corn and wheat, as well as livestock.

Gamache said characterizing all agriculture as profitable is misleading.

“I think it shows a large ignorance of what farming truly is,” Gamache said. “Every year we’re getting closer to shutting the doors.”

In the Northwest, labor costs equaled 110% of the revenue for the 2024 apple crop, according to a survey commissioned by the Northwest Horticultural Council.

The Trump administration’s H-2A wages gave growers some hope, the council’s senior vice president, Kate Tynan, said.

“Our growers are in a pretty rough spot right now,” she said. “We’re not certain what next year will be like. That’s the only thing we’re certain of.”

Although true labor costs are unknown, farmers probably will go ahead and harvest crops, Gastelum said.

“I don’t see anybody completely stopping,” he said. “I think people at this point are going to push through.”

Later, however, if the judge orders backpay, there could be a reckoning, Gastelum said. “Where do you get the cash to pay the wages? I think that’s going to be a big question.”

Gamache said he has good hop and apple crops. Apple harvest has started and hops are about to be picked. He’s already invested in the crop. “All that’s left is the harvest cost,” he said.

If he eventually has to pay backpay, he’ll have to get paid first, he said. “Unfortunately, all of our working capital has been eaten up,” he said.