Fresh off the June 30 introduction of the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act (SAWA), House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson joined AgriTalk to break down the proposed overhaul of the H-2A program. If passed, SAWA would mark the first major statutory reform to the H-2A guest worker visa program since its inception in 1986.
Shaking Off “Seasonality” for Year-Round Ag
Thompson notes a primary focus of SAWA is expanding access to year-round agricultural sectors. By removing the “seasonal” stipulation, this bill allows for year-round producers to utilize the program. However, the chairman emphasized that the “temporary” nature of the visas remains a core safeguard under the new updates.
“This is not a pathway to citizenship,” he says. “This is really a solution to address a tremendous problem in terms of illegal workers that are here in our country. After three years, these folks have to stay in agriculture, and they’re going to have to go home and then reapply. This may not be an overnight solution, but this is a real solution to be able to address food security because without a workforce we have food insecurity.”
For operations with year-round labor needs such as dairies, controlled environment agriculture (CEA), livestock or mushrooms, Thompson says the bill defines “temporary” by the length of the contract rather than the season. SAWA stipulates that a worker can stay under a single contract for a maximum of 350 consecutive days. Thompson views this cap as a win-win, framing the remaining days of the year as a built-in, two-week window for workers to return home.
“And as hard as these folks are working, I think they deserve a two-week vacation,” Thompson says. “Under this, they’re going to feel very comfortable and confident. They could be able to go home and maybe those days, whether it’s just over two weeks — maybe it’s for a birth of a child or grandchild, maybe it’s for a wedding, maybe it’s for a graduation, maybe it’s for a funeral. It’s family time.”
Additionally, SAWA calls for the Department of Labor to issue a labor certification to a farm that is valid for up to three consecutive years, a streamlining measure intended to cut down on annual bureaucratic paperwork for producers.
By opening the H-2A guest worker program to year-round production, the program is likely to draw heavy interest from sectors previously locked out, including dairy, livestock, meat and poultry processing, CEA and mushrooms.
Thompson thinks the federal agencies tasked with administering the program — the departments of Labor, Homeland Security and State — are equipped to handle the influx, saying, “I think the resources are there to get this done.”
To combat bureaucratic friction, Thompson points to SAWA’s establishment of a centralized online platform. This “one-stop shop” acts as a single point of access for all correspondence between employers, workers and government agencies.
“We’re doing things in a much more efficient, smarter way to be able to accomplish that,” he says.
Confronting the Domestic Labor Deficit
Thompson points to the stark data illustrating a growing need for the H-2A program in agriculture. In 2025, producers advertised 400,000 H-2A positions and had only 182 domestic workers apply to those programs. Thompson says the truth is there aren’t enough domestic workers vying for these open positions.
“The sad fact is that American citizens just don’t want to do this type of work. It pays well, but it’s hard work,” he says. “At one time during harvest season, especially in August, we’d have a lot of high school kids that would seek these positions. That’s just not the case today. So, the reality is this: Our country will have to import — we’ll either import our food supply or we’re going to import our workforce.”
Putting Guardrails on the AEWR
SAWA introduces strict wage stability measures and places guardrails on the highly volatile Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR). The legislation caps year-over-year wage rate fluctuations, limiting them to a maximum 3.5% increase or a 1.5% decrease. The bill also codifies the general wage methodology of the Department of Labor’s recent interim final rule, which uses Bureau of Labor Statistics data to ensure skill-based, market-accurate compensation. It also converts the interim final rule housing allowance into a standard daily charge while extending housing inspections to a three-year cycle to slash compliance costs.
“The idea is to get the wage under control,” Thompson says.
He points to a parallel to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, noting that when the H-2A program was established, it helped save farms from bankruptcy. However, Thompson says that’s not the case now.
“Today, many of those same farmers are saying that the inflated cost of H-2A is the reason that they are experiencing bankruptcy,” he says. “We’re really trying to wrap our arms around controlling costs with what we put forward.”
Thompson also points to more than 500 agricultural organizations that have endorsed the bill, demonstrating industrywide support and underscoring the need for ag labor reform.
“I’m very optimistic,” he says of SAWA’s future, noting that for House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, “I know that he likes how we have unified the agriculture industry.”
