September 17, 2026 at 2:57 AM
While some found the paperwork in the guestworker program unwieldy, with African-Americans and then Caribbean guestworkers leaving their fields for better work, Mexican guestworkers became the next exploitable labor force.
September 16, 2026 at 4:47 PM
While some found the paperwork in the guestworker program unwieldy, with African-Americans and then Caribbean guestworkers leaving their fields for better work, Mexican guestworkers became the next exploitable labor force.
A new report by Latina Futures 2050 Lab and UCLA CSRC on the H-2A program in Washington State highlights how the expansion of guestworker programs drives down labor standards for all workers. We need a labor migration system that protects wages and workers.
www.chicano.ucla.edu/about/news/u...
www.chicano.ucla.edu/about/news/u...
UCLA Report Finds Washington State Employers’ Use of H-2A Visa Loopholes May Be Displacing Local Farmworkers
The state has seen H-2A agricultural worker recruitment increase by nearly 1,000% since 2008, raising concerns about job access and economic security for local workforce. Photo courtesy of UFW Washington State.
www.chicano.ucla.edu
August 28, 2026 at 10:37 PM
A new report by Latina Futures 2050 Lab and UCLA CSRC on the H-2A program in Washington State highlights how the expansion of guestworker programs drives down labor standards for all workers. We need a labor migration system that protects wages and workers.
www.chicano.ucla.edu/about/news/u...
www.chicano.ucla.edu/about/news/u...
A federal judge in California struck down drastic cuts to the minimum wage paid to farmworkers on H-2A guestworker visas, put in place by the Trump administration last year.
Federal Court Strikes Down Wage Cut for Guestworkers on Farms
Worker advocacy groups celebrated the ruling against the Department of Labor, while agricultural employer groups called the decision an ‘existential threat’ to farmers.
civileats.com
August 28, 2026 at 4:15 PM
A federal judge in California struck down drastic cuts to the minimum wage paid to farmworkers on H-2A guestworker visas, put in place by the Trump administration last year.
In my Market Town Home Town, in a major English fruit growing district, for several years, soon decades, very early (3-4 AM) walk-to-work workers have virtually exclusively been _East European_* & other Guestworker nationalities.
*KN: Including Lithuanians (4th after Poles, Romanians & Bulgarians).
*KN: Including Lithuanians (4th after Poles, Romanians & Bulgarians).
August 21, 2026 at 9:16 AM
In my Market Town Home Town, in a major English fruit growing district, for several years, soon decades, very early (3-4 AM) walk-to-work workers have virtually exclusively been _East European_* & other Guestworker nationalities.
*KN: Including Lithuanians (4th after Poles, Romanians & Bulgarians).
*KN: Including Lithuanians (4th after Poles, Romanians & Bulgarians).
Trump’s Dept of Labor slashed wage rates in the H-2A agricultural guestworker program below market rates so U.S. and temporary foreign workers are paid even less. www.fresnobee.com/news/busines...
Legal challenge of new wage rule for foreign guest farmworkers in hands of Fresno judge
United Farm Workers is fighting to rescind a new federal rule to reduce the salaries of foreign guest workers.
www.fresnobee.com
August 20, 2026 at 7:38 PM
Trump’s Dept of Labor slashed wage rates in the H-2A agricultural guestworker program below market rates so U.S. and temporary foreign workers are paid even less. www.fresnobee.com/news/busines...
Some labor advocates and organizations like the United Farm Workers say that the rapid growth of the H-2A program is leading to a long-term displacement of American jobs and have their own reforms in mind. (Questen Inghram / yakimaherald.com)
Calls for changes to foreign guestworker program grow across the country
Members of Congress are calling on the Trump administration to make reforms to the foreign guestworker program that brought nearly 400,000 seasonal workers to farms across the country last year.
www.yakimaherald.com
August 19, 2026 at 1:00 AM
Some labor advocates and organizations like the United Farm Workers say that the rapid growth of the H-2A program is leading to a long-term displacement of American jobs and have their own reforms in mind. (Questen Inghram / yakimaherald.com)
Members of Congress are calling on the Trump administration to make reforms to the foreign guestworker program that brought nearly 400,000 seasonal workers to farms across the country last year.
Calls for changes to foreign guestworker program grow across the country
Members of Congress are calling on the Trump administration to make reforms to the foreign guestworker program that brought nearly 400,000 seasonal workers to farms across the country last year.
www.yakimaherald.com
August 18, 2026 at 2:40 PM
Members of Congress are calling on the Trump administration to make reforms to the foreign guestworker program that brought nearly 400,000 seasonal workers to farms across the country last year.
Undocumented workers helped restart our economy after covid. Undocumented workers kept our harvests coming after Congress destroyed the guestworker program. We are a better and stronger and smarter nation when we accept migrants into our community.
August 4, 2026 at 11:48 AM
Undocumented workers helped restart our economy after covid. Undocumented workers kept our harvests coming after Congress destroyed the guestworker program. We are a better and stronger and smarter nation when we accept migrants into our community.
'H.R.9535 would expand and streamline a H-2A agricultural guestworker program.
“If we do not solve this, we will have to import our food, and it is literally to that point, we already are faced with heavy imports from Mexico and other places southbound,” Sessions said. “It is a national […]
“If we do not solve this, we will have to import our food, and it is literally to that point, we already are faced with heavy imports from Mexico and other places southbound,” Sessions said. “It is a national […]
Original post on newsie.social
newsie.social
August 2, 2026 at 12:26 AM
'H.R.9535 would expand and streamline a H-2A agricultural guestworker program.
“If we do not solve this, we will have to import our food, and it is literally to that point, we already are faced with heavy imports from Mexico and other places southbound,” Sessions said. “It is a national […]
“If we do not solve this, we will have to import our food, and it is literally to that point, we already are faced with heavy imports from Mexico and other places southbound,” Sessions said. “It is a national […]
The farmworkers abused in Georgia came here legally, on H-2A guestworker visas, and were exploited by labor contractors despite federal rules meant to protect them. ProPublica spent two years documenting it. 🧵 www.propublica.org/article/h-2a...
July 28, 2026 at 2:01 AM
The farmworkers abused in Georgia came here legally, on H-2A guestworker visas, and were exploited by labor contractors despite federal rules meant to protect them. ProPublica spent two years documenting it. 🧵 www.propublica.org/article/h-2a...
AMERICA uses prison labour, forced labour supply chains, exploits immigrant labour, profits from domestic servitude, abuses its guestworker visa for advantage, not something NZ does, it's a pretext for the only thing Donnie knows, 'tariffs', his single response.
July 27, 2026 at 1:28 AM
AMERICA uses prison labour, forced labour supply chains, exploits immigrant labour, profits from domestic servitude, abuses its guestworker visa for advantage, not something NZ does, it's a pretext for the only thing Donnie knows, 'tariffs', his single response.
U.S. farmers would prefer not to use H-2A, and farmworker advocates say the program enables abuse. So how did it become agriculture’s go-to option?
Read more from our series, Farming 250. ⬇️
Read more from our series, Farming 250. ⬇️
Why US Farms Increasingly Rely on Guestworker Programs
American farmers would prefer not to use H-2A, and farmworker advocates say the program enables abuse. So how did it become agriculture’s go-to option?
civileats.com
July 26, 2026 at 2:01 PM
U.S. farmers would prefer not to use H-2A, and farmworker advocates say the program enables abuse. So how did it become agriculture’s go-to option?
Read more from our series, Farming 250. ⬇️
Read more from our series, Farming 250. ⬇️
The United States continues to rely extremely heavily on an immigrant workforce for farm labor and the entire system is ripe for exploitation.
Why US Farms Increasingly Rely on Guestworker Programs
American farmers would prefer not to use H-2A, and farmworker advocates say the program enables abuse. So how did it become agriculture’s go-to option?
civileats.com
July 23, 2026 at 10:28 PM
The United States continues to rely extremely heavily on an immigrant workforce for farm labor and the entire system is ripe for exploitation.
Farmers find the H-2A program cumbersome and expensive, and farmworker advocates say it can enable abuses. So why are farms increasingly relying on the program?
Why US Farms Increasingly Rely on Guestworker Programs
American farmers would prefer not to use H-2A, and farmworker advocates say the program enables abuse. So how did it become agriculture’s go-to option?
civileats.com
July 22, 2026 at 11:00 PM
Farmers find the H-2A program cumbersome and expensive, and farmworker advocates say it can enable abuses. So why are farms increasingly relying on the program?
I too yearn for farmers becoming salaried technocrats with subordinate salaried farm labor rather than petty gentry and guestworker serfs.
July 21, 2026 at 11:14 PM
I too yearn for farmers becoming salaried technocrats with subordinate salaried farm labor rather than petty gentry and guestworker serfs.
In 2005, about 50,000 individuals arrived in the U.S. to work on farms through the federal guestworker visa program, called H-2A. Ten years later, that number tripled. Less than a decade after that, in 2024, it had nearly tripled again.
Read more from our latest series, Farming 250. ⬇️
Read more from our latest series, Farming 250. ⬇️
Why US Farms Increasingly Rely on Guestworker Programs
American farmers would prefer not to use H-2A, and farmworker advocates say the program enables abuse. So how did it become agriculture’s go-to option?
civileats.com
July 21, 2026 at 8:00 PM
In 2005, about 50,000 individuals arrived in the U.S. to work on farms through the federal guestworker visa program, called H-2A. Ten years later, that number tripled. Less than a decade after that, in 2024, it had nearly tripled again.
Read more from our latest series, Farming 250. ⬇️
Read more from our latest series, Farming 250. ⬇️
Farmers find the H-2A program cumbersome and expensive, and farmworker advocates say it can enable abuses, since employers control a worker’s housing, transportation, and legal right to live and work in the U.S. Why do farms rely on the program?
Read the latest from our Farming 250 series. ⬇️
Read the latest from our Farming 250 series. ⬇️
Why US Farms Increasingly Rely on Guestworker Programs
American farmers would prefer not to use H-2A, and farmworker advocates say the program enables abuse. So how did it become agriculture’s go-to option?
civileats.com
July 20, 2026 at 11:00 PM
Farmers find the H-2A program cumbersome and expensive, and farmworker advocates say it can enable abuses, since employers control a worker’s housing, transportation, and legal right to live and work in the U.S. Why do farms rely on the program?
Read the latest from our Farming 250 series. ⬇️
Read the latest from our Farming 250 series. ⬇️
Why US Farms Increasingly Rely on Guestworker Programs – Civil Eats
https://civileats.com/2026/07/20/why-us-farms-increasingly-rely-on-guestworker-programs/
#food #agriculture #labor
https://civileats.com/2026/07/20/why-us-farms-increasingly-rely-on-guestworker-programs/
#food #agriculture #labor
Why US Farms Increasingly Rely on Guestworker Programs
American farmers would prefer not to use H-2A, and farmworker advocates say the program enables abuse. So how did it become agriculture’s go-to option?
civileats.com
July 20, 2026 at 5:50 PM
Why US Farms Increasingly Rely on Guestworker Programs – Civil Eats
https://civileats.com/2026/07/20/why-us-farms-increasingly-rely-on-guestworker-programs/
#food #agriculture #labor
https://civileats.com/2026/07/20/why-us-farms-increasingly-rely-on-guestworker-programs/
#food #agriculture #labor
American farmers would prefer not to use H-2A, and farmworker advocates say the program enables abuse. So how did it become agriculture’s go-to option?
@lisaelaineh.bsky.social reports in the latest installment of our series, Farming 250. ⬇️
@lisaelaineh.bsky.social reports in the latest installment of our series, Farming 250. ⬇️
Why US Farms Increasingly Rely on Guestworker Programs
American farmers would prefer not to use H-2A, and farmworker advocates say the program enables abuse. So how did it become agriculture’s go-to option?
civileats.com
July 20, 2026 at 2:00 PM
American farmers would prefer not to use H-2A, and farmworker advocates say the program enables abuse. So how did it become agriculture’s go-to option?
@lisaelaineh.bsky.social reports in the latest installment of our series, Farming 250. ⬇️
@lisaelaineh.bsky.social reports in the latest installment of our series, Farming 250. ⬇️
Why US Farms Increasingly Rely on Guestworker Programs
->Civil Eats | More on "US farm labor shortage crisis" at BigEarthData.ai
->Civil Eats | More on "US farm labor shortage crisis" at BigEarthData.ai
Why US Farms Increasingly Rely on Guestworker Programs
Despite that explosive growth—from 50,000 workers to 400,000 in under 20 years—farms are struggling more than ever to find workers. This is the result of several overlapping trends, including increased consolidation of farms, changes in immigration policy, and U.S. citizens less willing to do farm work. “We’ve been an industry that has been labor challenged for a long time,” said John Hollay, the president and CEO of the National Council of Agricultural Employers (NCAE), “but it absolutely has gotten more acute.” In fact, after meeting with farmers across the country in service of writing the next farm bill, House Agriculture Chairman G.T. Thompson (R-Pennsylvania) said that farmers raised labor shortages more than almost any other issue. As a result, last month Thompson introduced a bill to transform the H-2A program in ways that would even further expand the number of farms and workers using it. That solution surprised many observers, because despite the program’s growth, most people in agriculture see H-2A as a last resort. Farmers find it cumbersome and expensive, and farmworker advocates say it can enable abuses, since the employing farms control a worker’s housing, transportation, and legal right to live and work in the country. Given these...
civileats.com
July 20, 2026 at 8:32 AM