WASHINGTON — American farmers, already grappling with soaring input costs, strict regulations, and recovery from natural disasters, have long struggled with labor shortages that threaten the backbone of our rural economy. Now, to alleviate these pressures, President Donald Trump has ordered the Department of Labor to unwind the Biden-Harris administration’s stifling rules on the H-2A visa program.
In an exclusive statement to Townhall, freshman Rep. Brad Knott (R-NC) hailed this decisive action, labeling it a critical win for America’s farmers who have been harmed by Democratic overreach. This reversal promises to restore practicality to a program essential for legal agricultural labor, directly countering policies that favored chaos at the border over stability on the farm.
“The Biden-Harris administration harmed farmers through the over-regulating of the H-2A worker program, which was previously popular and consistent with the law. This of course created uncertainty and increased costs, rendering the program impractical for our farmers,” Knott told Townhall. “It is one of many examples where Democrats punished legal immigrants and citizens while incentivizing illegal immigration.
“I applaud President Trump for directing the Department of Labor to reverse the previous administration’s gross overreach and look forward to working with the White House to further support a reliable workforce for our agricultural community," he concluded.
Knott's comments come amid a broader Republican push to dismantle the leftist policies that inflated farm labor costs and stifled rural economies. The H-2A program, the lifeline for U.S. farms needing temporary foreign workers when American labor falls short, requires employers to advertise jobs domestically first and pay a minimum wage set by the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR)—currently $16.16 per hour in North Carolina.
But under Biden-Harris, a slew of rules hiked up those wages by tying them to non-agricultural data from the Department of Labor's Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program, rather than the more accurate U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Labor Survey (FLS). This not only inflated costs but also mandated that farmers pay the highest wage for any task a worker performs, even if it's minor—turning versatile farm work into a regulatory nightmare.
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These changes were often made regionally in broad ways that didn't fit different types of farms. They caused chaos in planning and hiring. Groups like North Carolina's tobacco and sweetpotato farmers, along with the state's Farm Bureau, have repeatedly sounded the alarm on skyrocketing AEWR rates that threaten family farms' survival.
Knott isn't alone in his fight. He joined a bicameral letter—obtained exclusively by Townhall—sent to Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, urging her to fully rescind Biden's "out-of-touch" rules and collaborate on reforms to make H-2A more flexible. Signed by representatives including Sens. Ted Budd (R-NC), Tim Scott (R-SC), John Boozman (R-AR), and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-PA), the letter blasts the previous administration for exacerbating labor shortages amid high input costs, trade deficits, and natural disasters.
"While consistent access to agricultural labor has always been difficult, the Biden Administration further complicated this issue by applying a series of rules that fundamentally altered the implementation of the H-2A visa program and the methodology used to determine the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR)," the lawmakers wrote. "These changes placed a significant burden on American farmers by further increasing farm labor wages."
They commended Chavez-DeRemer's early moves, like halting enforcement of Biden's farm labor unionization rule, but pressed for more: "We encourage you to fully rescind this out-of-touch rule to create more pragmatic labor wages for America’s farmers."
The letter highlights how Biden's policies forced farmers to pay inflated wages based on external data, admitting even the administration may have "underestimated the impact." It references failed congressional efforts last term to block the rule via the Congressional Review Act, underscoring the urgency under Trump to restore sanity.
This exclusive insight from Rep. Knott underscores the Trump administration's pro-farmer agenda, contrasting sharply with the Democrats' preference for open borders and regulatory excess. As rural America rebounds, expect more from conservatives like Knott to ensure legal pathways thrive while illegal incentives crumble.
Rep. Knott and his co-signees are awaiting a response from Labor Secretary Chavez-DeRemer.
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