Resolutions Committee Advances Cook County Farm Bureau’s H-2A ProposalAdapted from FarmWeek July 28, 2025
Farm Bureau delegates in December will tackle policy issues ranging from farm labor to wildlife management to postal service delays.
Resolutions Committee members, which include 18 county presidents and the Illinois Farm Bureau® Young Leader vice chair, met in July to consider 33 policy submittals from nine counties and a Regenerative Ag Working Group. They advanced 22 proposals and held two for more information.
IFB Vice President Evan Hultine, who chairs the committee, described the discussion as “full and robust.”
“The meeting highlights the value of the Resolutions Committee and process as all areas of the state were represented in those great discussions,” Hultine said. “I’m proud and appreciative of our county Farm Bureaus for the work they’re doing.”
H-2A program
One of the proposals advanced by the committee streamlines Farm Bureau’s H-2A policy and also adds some new language.
With the H-2A temporary visa program continuing to grow as farmers struggle to find domestic workers, Cook County Farm Bureau proposed an update to existing labor policy that provides flexibility to H-2A program changes while addressing membership barriers to utilization of the program.
The proposal adds the word “administration” to the H-2A Work Program heading, and adds new points in support of:
- Clarity in H-2A regulations and administration
- Streamlining the H-2A application process by using electronic application filing
- Allowing employers to file a single application for labor needs, even if labor needs are staggered throughout the year
- Removing the “seasonality” requirement to make all agricultural jobs eligible
- Lengthening the term of stay for workers
- A quicker, less intensive application process for hiring H-2A workers if the farm has had no changes from the previous year
The proposal also moves several existing points under the Work Program heading to a newly proposed H-2A Work Program Operations heading, while adding that Farm Bureau supports more flexibility for agricultural employers in the H-2A program, and allowing an H-2A worker with time remaining on their visa to work on other qualified farms, if the original farm requesting the employee no longer has work.
“(The proposal) is simplifying our policy ... looking at the actual operations of the H-2A workers, of when they’re here, how can we use them, when can we use them, what are the guidelines around that, and just really looking at our policy book, streamlining it and making it better organized for legislators when they look at it,” said Jake Armstrong, Warren-Henderson Farm Bureau president and chair of the Agricultural Production and National Issues subcommittee.
Delegates also will consider deleting language opposing increased state minimum wage and adverse effect wage requirements and replacing it with Farm Bureau opposes the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) being above the state minimum wage. The proposal also includes a point that the organization opposes additional state regulations that add application processing delays.
The AEWR’s vary by state, and are the minimum wage for foreign farmworkers admitted temporarily into the U.S. on H-2A visas. The Labor Department sets rates to prevent the influx of foreign labor from lowering wages for U.S. workers.
This year, nationwide rates increased by an average of more than 4%. The 2025 wage rate for field and livestock workers in Illinois is $19.57 an hour- an increase of $1.39. During FY 2024, 5,198 H-2A workers were registered in the state, which was an increase of 398 workers over the previous year.
Members with questions or concerns are encouraged to contact Bona Heinsohn at [email protected].