Short on labor, Lee Lewis of Fisk, Mo., figured he had two options: 

“So,” Lewis recalls, “I told my family: Either we have to back up and farm what we own and everybody pitch in, or we have to hire these guys.” 

The family chose hiring H-2A workers. That was five years ago. Lewis hired about 10 workers from South Africa for 10 months a year, as allowed under a standard row crop contract. Then he lost a local employee who worked year-round, and Lewis’ dad died in a car accident. 

“You’d be amazed how much my 75-year-old dad did around here,” Lewis says.  

But those losses — both business and personal — meant Lewis needed help the other two months of the year. To qualify for 12-month H-2A employees, Lewis had to add livestock to his multi-crop operation, which includes corn, soybeans, peanuts, rice and wheat. 

The family chose Highlander cattle and hired two year-round H-2A workers.  

One is Sias “C.I.” Grobler, whose family lost its South African farm. 

“H-2A is an awesome program. It’s good for the South Afrikaans and it’s good for the American farmers,” Grobler says. “South Africa doesn’t give us the opportunity.” 

Related:Role of H-2A ag workers widens as U.S. labor sources vanish

‘Opportunity’ operative word 

Run by the U.S. Department of Labor, the H-2A program lets U.S. employers or agents meeting its requirements bring foreign nationals to the U.S. to fill temporary ag jobs.  

The program uses visas to control who can enter the country and for how long. It requires employer and employee certification and background checks. Employers also provide housing and transportation to and from workers’ home countries.  

The program is used in every state — from Alaska with 57 workers to Florida with 60,050 for 2024. As a region, the Midwest doesn’t heavily use H-2A workers. But with low unemployment and declining rural populations, that likely will change. 

At bit.ly/h2a-data-hub, click on each state for its exact number of H-2A workers. 

According to farm managers who participate in the H-2A program, change is a constant among: 

Vas Sakamuri, senior vice president of Farmer Enterprises, says updates to federal regulations for migrant and seasonal worker protections, and rule changes at the agency level are often complex and can constrain a business’s opportunity to use the program. 

Related:Pros and cons of H-2A guest farmworkers

“I think the spirit [of the regulatory framework] is good,” Sakamuri says. “I don’t think the government agencies really think through the commercial side of these things.” 

Farmer Enterprises grew because Sakamuri and his partners saw that businesses needed the expertise they could provide regarding H-2A recruitment and employment legalities. And they wanted to help foreign workers find roles that suited their work and life goals. 

“We focus on H-2A — on helping the farmer and the worker,” he says.  

Labor needs significant 

Opportunity flows both ways. 

“I’m super-passionate about this program,” says Jerad Hutchens, president and co-owner of Summit Contracting, Platte, S.D. “It’s a great program that’s enriching people’s lives on both sides of the spectrum.” 

Summit, which builds agricultural structures in South Dakota, Kansas and Nebraska, works with Farmer Enterprises to navigate the complexity of the H-2A program.  

Despite regulatory complexity and cost, the H-2A program and Summit’s partnership with Farmer Enterprises creates opportunities for the business that Hutchens says they wouldn’t otherwise have. 

“We rely heavily on the program,” he says. “With the limited workforce available in rural America and doing this work, the labor is harder and harder to come by. It’s allowed us to expand our operations and have a sustainable workforce.” 

Lewis agrees. “This farm doesn’t stop,” he says. Various crops go into the ground at the same time. Then harvest overlaps. 

At harvest, Lewis says, “We run seven semitrucks and two combines. … Guys like C.I. take the pressure off me.” 

H-2A labor also aging 

H-2A, however, may not continue to offer a pressure valve for ag operations. Just as the average age of U.S. farmers is rising, so is the age of immigrant workers. 

The age of immigrant workers averaged 37 in 2006 and rose to nearly 42 in 2024, says Steven Hubbard at the American Immigration Council. In the meantime, demand for those workers is up — with about 15% of farm businesses using labor contractors in 2010 to 44% in 2024. 

Given the first step in applying to the program is determining that domestic workers aren’t available, Hubbard says H-2A ultimately benefits rural economies. 

“When you hire a worker — whether U.S.-born or foreign-born — you create more jobs,” Hubbard says. “They are earning money. They spend the money, and that creates a need for goods and services.”