“too expensive for our operation” may now look like the best way to stabilize staffing. The lawsuit risk is real Nothing that lowers labor costs in today’s climate goes unchallenged. Labor advocates have filed suit in federal court seeking to block or narrow the IFR, arguing it unlawfully suppresses wage rates and was issued improperly. That litigation could change the landscape quickly, including through the risk of injunctive relief. This matters for two reasons. First, an injunction could lead to mid-season whiplash—re- certifications, revised wage obligations, or uncertainty about which methodology applies. The last thing any grower needs is a moving target when the crop is ready and the crew is on the clock. Second, even without an injunction, uncertainty changes behavior. Employers may proceed with H-2A because they need workers, but they will also hedge, structuring contracts and budgets with contingencies in case the wage floor snaps back upward. Why 2026 could be the year H-2A “crosses the Rubicon” If you want the simplest case for explosive growth, it’s this: enforcement volatility increases the cost of relying on an unauthorized labor market, while wage reform decreases the cost of using the authorized one. H-2A has already been trending upward nationally for years. What has limited broader adoption in parts of the West is not whether the program works. It’s whether it pencils out for more than a subset of operations—especially those without large existing housing inventories or the administrative capacity to run a fully compliant shop. In 2026, many employers may find that the numbers finally justify building H-2A capacity that can grow with the business, rather than using the program only when they have no other choice. Practical advice for Western growers: assume the surge is coming If you expect 2026 to bring a wave of H-2A adoption, the operational question is whether your organization will surf it— or get stuck behind it. Here are steps I recommend employers take now: 1) Treat H-2A as a business strategy, not a filing exercise. H-2A success is less about submitting forms and more about building repeatable processes: training, meeting filing deadlines, housing inspection readiness, transportation plans, onboarding, supervision, discipline and timekeeping. 2) Work with experienced professionals, and vet them like critical vendors. H-2A is unforgiving. A missed recruitment step or sloppy recordkeeping can mean delays, denials, back wages or debarment
exposure. For many employers, partnering with a qualified attorney or filing agent, such as Western Growers H-2A Services, and reputable visa facilitation companies can be the difference between a scalable program and a ticking time bomb. 3) Modernize onboarding and worker tracking before you scale. As H-2A numbers grow, the “spreadsheet-and-stapler” approach breaks. Employers should consider a modern H-2A onboarding and tracking program, such as H2 Organizer, to manage arrivals, identity documents, training acknowledgments, job assignments, housing rosters, transportation logs and required notices in a consistent, audit-ready way. 4) Audit job descriptions with wage floors and “skill level” in mind. The IFR structure creates incentives around how duties and requirements are defined. Keep job orders accurate and aligned with real job duties. Overstating requirements can drive wages up; understating duties can create compliance risk. The goal is alignment, not gamesmanship. 5) Budget for uncertainty anyway. Even if you believe the IFR survives, build contingency scenarios. You do not want to be caught pricing contracts on one wage floor and paying payroll on another. 6) Get serious about housing. If adoption spikes, the bottleneck will be housing: availability and inspections. 7) Don’t confuse “deference” with “exemption.” Even when farms aren’t the headline, enforcement pressure rises and falls with policy and politics. The best defense is compliance: clean I-9 practices, disciplined vendor management and well- trained supervisors on the ground. The bottom line H-2A has always been the legal answer to an economic problem. What’s changing is that, across key Western states, it may be on the verge of becoming the financially realistic answer to the same problem. If enforcement reduces the supply of unauthorized labor, growers will need a substitute workforce. If the IFR’s AEWR methodology holds—and if entry-level H-2A wages in states like California, Arizona and Colorado increasingly converge toward minimum-wage floors—then the biggest historical barrier to broader H-2A expansion shrinks in a way that will be hard to ignore. For many operations, 2026 won’t be the year they discover H-2A. It will be the year they decide they can no longer afford not to build around it. For questions about the H-2A program or Western Growers H-2A Services, please contact our team at h2a@wga.com.
12 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com January – March 2026
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