Please note that this post contains affiliate links and any sales made through such links will reward MageeNews.com a small commission – at no extra cost to you.
Senators Introduce Bill to Codify Trump Wage Rule for H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker Program
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) has joined a legislative effort to stabilize agricultural labor costs by providing farmers with greater certainty and clarity when forecasting labor costs as they plan for future growing seasons.
Hyde-Smith is an original cosponsor of the Farmworker Access and Retention Modernization (FARM) Stability Act (S.4249), which was introduced by U.S. Senator Ted Budd (R-N.C.) last week. The measure would codify the Trump Administration’s Interim Final Rule from the U.S. Department of Labor to amend the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker program Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) determining methodology.
“The skyrocketing labor costs hitting Mississippi farmers are threatening their operations and their ability to put food on American tables. The FARM Stability Act takes the commonsense step of locking in the Trump administration’s reforms to the H-2A wage methodology, so farmers can plan ahead without fear that the next administration will pull the rug out from under them,” Senator Hyde-Smith said. “I’m proud to join Senator Budd on this effort to provide relief and certainty to our producers who are burdened with costly regulatory overreach from previous administrations.”
“As labor costs continue to climb, our nation’s farmers and ranchers deserve to know the price tag associated with keeping their operations going. Agriculture is North Carolina’s leading industry and a cornerstone of our economy, but without a stable, reliable workforce, our producers cannot plan, threatening both their livelihoods and our nation’s food supply. The DOL has helped provide farmers with the transparency they deserve, but now we must ensure agricultural labor costs remain affordable by passing the FARM Stability Act,” said Senator Budd.
The mismanagement of calculating the AEWR, particularly during the Biden administration, has exacerbated farm labor costs for U.S. producers and raised food prices. Hyde-Smith and other lawmakers in August 2025 asked the Trump Labor Department to rescind enforcement of Biden-era regulations that dramatically increased costs for American farmers and created obstacles for producers seeking to enroll in the H-2A visa program.
In response, the Department of Labor in October issued an Interim Final Rule that establishes an annual adjustment to the hourly AEWR and creates separate wage scales for entry-level and experienced H–2A workers, providing much-needed clarity for the agricultural industry.
S.4249 would codify the Labor Department’s Compensation Adjustment Factor for the AEWR to ensure that housing provided by farm operators is adequately considered when determining the AEWR. It would also codify the Two-Tiered Wage Scale to ensure that both entry-level and experienced agricultural workers are fairly compensated for their labor.
This approach is a stark departure from an AEWR final rule issued by the Biden administration in 2023 that, among other things, allowed other industries to determine farm labor wages and required farm operators to pay the highest wage for any task a worker performs, even if it was only a small fraction of the worker’s job.
Additional FARM Stability Act cosponsors include U.S. Senators Tim Scott (R-S.C.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).
The measure is supported by the Agricultural Workforce Coalition, Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation, and Delta Council.
MageeNews.com is the online news source for Simpson and surrounding counties as well as the State of Mississippi
