The Farm Labor Survey was released earlier this month by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). It has set the minimum wage that farmers must pay H-2A workers. This is called the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR). There was an increase of 4.5% this year. American Farm Bureau Economist Veronica Nigh tells us more.
Normally, this information would have been published last fall. However, the Trump Administration put in some policy changes that were battled in the courts. Nigh tells us how that played out.
The new wage rate is effective immediately. There hasn?t been a determination if farmers will have to issue backpay or not. In the past five years, the wages have jumped 20%.
