The North Carolina Chamber is stepping into a national legal fight over farm labor policy, backing a Trump administration rule it says brings long-needed stability to one of agriculture’s most critical — and costly — workforce programs.
The NC Chamber, alongside more than 25 agricultural organizations from across the country, has filed an amicus brief in United Farm Workers et al. v. U.S. Department of Labor, a case pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. The coalition is urging the court to uphold the Department of Labor’s revised methodology for calculating the Adverse Effect Wage Rate, or AEWR, a key component of the H-2A temporary agricultural guestworker program.
At stake is how wages are set for tens of thousands of foreign workers who fill seasonal farm jobs when domestic labor is unavailable — and whether farmers can reliably plan for the 2026 growing season.
The lawsuit challenges the Trump administration’s October 2025 rule, which overhauled how AEWR is calculated. Labor groups argue the change could suppress wages, while farm groups say the previous system had become economically disconnected from reality, driving up costs at a pace far beyond inflation or broader labor benchmarks.
In its brief, the coalition warns that blocking the rule nationwide would inject uncertainty into farm operations just as many growers have already locked in labor plans, operating budgets and financing for next year. Thousands of farmers have received H-2A wage rates for 2026 under the current rule and have begun hiring accordingly.
“The H-2A program plays a vital role in supporting agricultural production across the United States,” Ray Starling, general counsel of the NC Chamber and president of the NC Chamber Legal Institute, said in a statement. “Employers need a system that provides reliable access to labor, delivers certainty for businesses and workers alike, and supports the production of safe, affordable, and domestically grown food.”
The coalition’s position is rooted in economic research it commissioned in 2025, conducted by a former member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. That analysis found AEWR wage growth had dramatically outpaced other major economic indices, contributing to higher food prices, increased imports and mounting pressure on domestic producers competing in global markets.
The research concluded that a more data-driven approach — one tied more closely to the Employment Cost Index — would still protect U.S. workers while better reflecting the economics of modern agriculture.
The amicus brief also challenges the legal foundation of the plaintiffs’ case. First, it argues the labor groups lack standing, since no worker represented in the lawsuit has demonstrated an actual, present injury tied to the revised AEWR rule. Second, the coalition contends the Department of Labor acted squarely within its statutory authority, replacing what it calls an unworkable system with a lawful and flexible framework.
According to the brief, the plaintiffs are effectively pushing for AEWR to function as a permanent upward ratchet, rather than the discretionary tool Congress envisioned — one designed to prevent adverse wage effects without pricing farmers out of the labor market.
For growers, the issue is not academic.
“Over the last decade, access to the H-2A program has become the deciding factor in whether an increasing number of Pacific Northwest tree fruit farms remain in business year after year,” said Mark Powers, president of the Northwest Horticultural Council. Rising compliance costs, he said, have only made that barrier higher.
The H-2A program, now more than 40 years old, allows farmers to hire foreign workers on a temporary basis only after the government certifies that no sufficient domestic labor is available. Workers return to their home countries at the end of each season.
The NC Chamber formed the H-2A reform coalition in 2025 to push for changes to a wage system it argues had become detached from economic fundamentals. With the rule now under legal challenge, that advocacy has shifted from policy forums to the courtroom — where the outcome could shape labor costs, food prices and rural economies well beyond North Carolina.
