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By Glenn Vaagen, Pacific Northwest Ag Network

In late September, the U.S. Department of Labor announced it was lowering the H-2A Adverse Effect Wage Rate, better known as AEWR.  If the interim rule is adopted, it means rates will drop around $1.80 an hour in Idaho, $2.10 in Oregon and nearly $2.50 an hour in Washington.

Enrique Gastelum, CEO of WAFLA, the Worker and Farmer Labor Association, said while these proposed changes are far from a “silver bullet” he feels this will help farmers, while perhaps allowing workers to make more.

“I think what's going to be interesting when we go into 2026 in Washington and in Oregon is while this base rate for these H-2A crews is going to be less, for a portion of the year, when we get to peak harvest or peak activities where we have big spikes and needs to get work done, does that give a little bit of cushion now so that farmer can't afford to pay overtime during that period of time and have those workers work those extra hours to actually get all the work done when needed?" Gastelum said.  "And then that may make up some of the supplement of the lower wages for the farmer. workers during those times.”

Gastelum added changes to the H-2A program, such as these proposals, are a big piece to the puzzle of what a legal workforce looks like going forward.  While these AEWR changes are proposals, Gastelum said he believes the Administration will do something.

“While we have not seen what that ultimate final rule or draft would look like, they did release their regulatory agenda for the spring of 2026, and there was something titled adverse effect wage rate there," he said.  "So that to me indicates they're probably going to collect all these public comments from all the different stakeholder community on this interim one, and then use that maybe to fine tune or draft whatever final rule they may propose in 2026.”

Gastelum added these proposed changes to H-2A may make the program more palatable for growers and producers across the Northwest.