Crapo, Colleagues Urge Freeze to Ag Wage Rate that Could Threaten America’s Agriculture Independence

Washington, D.C.--U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) led a group of 15 Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Senate leadership urging it include a freeze to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) in the earliest possible legislative vehicle.  Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), Pete Ricketts (R-Nebraska), Tim Scott (R-South Carolina), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Mike Braun (R-Indiana), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi), Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), Rick Scott (R-Florida), Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Todd Young (R-Indiana), Ted Budd (R-North Carolina), Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) and John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) joined Crapo on the letter.

“The increasing cost of labor for agriculture producers is unsustainable.  According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the national average AEWR will be $17.55 this year,” the Senators wrote.  “That represents an increase of 5.6 percent from 2023, the third year in a row the AEWR increased by over five percent.  In fact, the national average AEWR has more than doubled since 2005.  This is compounded by the increased costs of inputs like energy and fertilizer, other guest worker expenses such as housing and transportation, and forthcoming expenses imposed by new regulations and fees.”

“If costs continue to increase as they have, the pressure put on America’s food producers will fundamentally shift the food production model that has allowed us to be agriculturally independent and secure,” the Senators continued.  “In order to support our farmers and ranchers and feed families across the country, we must act now.”

The American Farm Bureau supports the letter. 

“Farmers are suffering through a worsening labor crisis, and something must be done to modernize an outdated farmworker system,” said John Walt Boatright, Director of Government Affairs at American Farm Bureau.  “While a permanent solution is needed, we appreciate these lawmakers who are working to deliver short-term relief so farmers can continue to grow the food America’s families rely on.”

An increased AEWR went into effect on January 1, 2024.  Nationally, the rate increased by 5.6 percent, and the rate in Idaho increased by five percent.  Unsustainable increases in the AEWR are especially harmful to small and family-operated farms and ranches, who are already limiting operations because they cannot afford to hire enough labor.  The AEWR is one of many increasing costs farmers and ranchers face, and its unsustainable increases could threaten national food security and shift production outside the United States.

Senator Crapo is a co-sponsor of the Supporting Farm Operations Act, which would revert the AEWR to the December 2023 rate through the end of the 2025 growing season.

Full text of the letter is available HERE.

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