Stat of the Week: Labor accounted for about 40 cents of every dollar of cash expenses on specialty crop farms

"Specialty crop farms had the largest share of cash expenses on labor relative to other farm types in 2024," according to the USDA. “Labor accounted for about 40 cents of every dollar of cash expenses on these farms, nearly three times the all-farm average."

Why does this matter?

"With specialty crops being the highest for labor costs, this data shows how important the H-2A program is to our markets compared to agriculture in general,” says Nursery Management magazine Editor Matt McClellan, who’s been reporting on the H-2A interim final rule for the GIE Media Horticulture Group.

Chart courtesy of USDA

On Aug. 26, a U.S. federal district court ruled that the interim final rule on farmworker wages from October 2025 must be rewritten.

The rule cut farm workers’ wages by up to $7 per hour, depending on the state, and DOL estimated that the rule would annually transfer $2.46 billion in wages from workers to employers.

Federal law requires the DOL to ensure hiring temporary foreign farmworkers under H-2A visas doesn’t drag down wages for U.S. farmworkers doing the same jobs.

Read more about the rule here.