Ag employers took a big sigh of relief after the Department of Labor revised the methodology for determining the H-2A program’s Adverse Effect Wage Rate.

Northwest Horticultural Council’s Senior Vice President, Kate Tynan, says it’s great news because tree fruit growers are spending nearly every dollar they make on labor costs.

“We did conduct a survey last year looking at trends and grower costs and labor returns, and we were able to update that this year. I can tell you that last year growers were actually paying eight percent more in labor costs than they were actually receiving for the sale of their fruit.”

But sadly, Tynan says that was last year.

“This year we’re on track for growers to spend 97 percent of that check that they get when they sell their fruit only on labor costs, and that’s before they’re paying for fuel or fertilizer or any of those other costs that go along with growing and harvesting fruit.”

Hopefully, Tynan says, this will prevent the loss of more farmers.

“Growers cannot stay in business and continue to do what they do under those economic conditions. And that’s the largest reason why we’ve lost 15 percent of our tree fruit farms in Washington state between 2017 and 2022. We’ve seen even higher numbers in Oregon that we’ve lost.”

The new AEWR calculations are now in effect, but won’t impact northwest growers until next year.