2022 SPECIALTY CROP AUTOMATION REPORT
H-2A workers are hired by three main types of employers:
Traditionally, individual employers have made up the largest share of H-2A employers since 2007. However, the FLC share has been growing at a fast rate, closing the gap with individual farm operators (see Figure 18). FLCs act as a bridge between agriculture employers and farmworkers, charging a fee for their services. Their aggressive growth can be attributed to two major factors. First, the growing share of H-2A employment by FLCs suggest that it is getting increasingly difficult for FLCs to recruit domestically, prompting them to turn their recruitment efforts abroad. Second, FLCs’ increasing share is likely driven by the fact that individual firms find it more practical to hire H-2A workers through FLCs rather than directly, which incurs high fixed expenses related to application, recruitment, housing and transportation. As FLCs tend to work with multiple producers, they can share these fixed expenses across different producers, while smaller farms have to bear these costs themselves.
• Individual employers: Agribusinesses that directly employ H-2A workers and use their labor in-house
• Farm labor contractors (FLC): Farm labor brokerage firms that lease their workers’ services to farms
• Growers’ associations: Groups that typically consist of multiple farms and nonprofits that promote the professional interest of their member farms. In 2020, individual employers and FLCs were the dominant players in H-2A employment, responsible for more than 90 percent of all H-2A job certifications. 43 At the state level however, the share of these three employers differs. For example, California and Florida rely more heavily on FLC (71 percent and 83 percent in 2020, respectively) than other U.S. states (34 percent in 2020).
FARM LABOR CONTRACTORS ARE RAPIDLY GAINING ON INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYERS AS THE DOMINANT H-2A EMPLOYER
H-2A jobs by employer type in the U.S., 2007-2020 [number of certified workers]
Split to differ per U.S. State, 2020
Certified Workers
300,000
1% 0%
Growers Association +4%
8%
8%
250,000
8%
10%
34%
71%
+18%
200,000
42%
11%
Farm labor contractors
83%
42%
43%
15%
40%
150,000
32% 16%
36%
25% 19%
+8%
19% 23%
50%
58%
16%
21% 57% 21%
100,000
67% 17% 17% 10% 73% 17%
50%
18% 64% 18%
66% 18% 19% 63% 19%
Individual Employers
47%
50%
49%
56%
52%
17%
28%
58%
50,000 0 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
CA FL Other U.S.
Source: USDA, Roland Berger
Figure 18: Growth of H-2A jobs by employer type
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