U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) this week introduced the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act (SAWA), legislation that would provide critical changes to the H-2A guest worker program. “New York Farm Bureau (NYFB) commends Rep. Thompson and the bill’s cosponsors for their leadership in addressing one of the largest concerns facing New York farmers — the shortage and rising cost of farm labor,” said NYFB President David Fisher. “These changes to the H-2A program will make a huge difference in our farms’ ability to hire workers for longer periods of time while improving efficiencies across the board.”

Original cosponsors of the bill include U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy.

“It’s time to bring the H-2A program into the 21st century,” Thompson said. “Producers have been sounding the alarm for years that Congress needs to address the workforce crisis we have on our hands in farm country. The H-2A visa program is woefully outdated, and it no longer meets the needs of American agricultural production.”

If signed into law, this legislation would be the first statutory reform to H-2A in 40 years. The program allows non-immigrant foreign workers to perform temporary agricultural jobs in the U.S. when domestic workers are unavailable. The Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act of 2026 expands access to the program for year-round operations, controls costs to restore certainty to balance sheets, and streamlines the interactions of the government agencies administering the program.

“There is no greater national security threat than disruptions to our food supply,” Thompson said. “The Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act of 2026 makes the practical, commonsense reforms required to prevent these disruptions by providing a workforce that meets agriculture’s needs–now and in the future.”

Key elements of changes to the H-2A program are:

— Controls Labor Costs — Requires the H-2A wage to be the highest of a) a collective bargaining agreement; b), the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR); or c) a federal, state or local minimum wage.Limits AEWR wage rate fluctuations year-over-year to not exceed a 3.5% increase or a 1.5% decrease.

— Expands Access — Clarifies the length of “temporary” in a job contract to a maximum of 350 days, allowing more farmers to utilize the program.

Expands the eligibility of services for the program to include aquaculture, the harvest of livestock, and forestry, among others.

— Streamlines the Program — Creates an online platform as a single point of access among employers, employees and relevant agencies. Clarifies the roles of the various federal agencies involved with the program to prevent duplicative work and to create consistent implementation policies and procedures.

“These changes to the H-2A program are long overdue. As a state that is home to a wide variety of agricultural commodities, many of which require significant labor needs, New York must have access to a reliable agricultural workforce,” Fisher said.

In related news, NYFB Board of Directors member Ryan Akin has been in Washington, D.C. this week at a fly-in event coordinated by American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). Akin, who has been advocating for SAWA legislation on behalf of NYFB, attended a press conference with other farmers from across the country. He is a member of the AFBF Labor Issue Advisory Committee and was selected by AFBF to attend the fly-in and share his perspective as a dairy farmer.