FRESNO, California — The U.S. Department of Labor has told a federal judge in Fresno that it will work diligently to adopt new wages for seasonal foreign farmworkers by December 30, though it remains unhappy with the court-set deadline, Capital Press reported on Friday, October 23.

Source: Capital Press

In a report filed October 22 with U.S. District Judge Kirk Sherriff, the department said it was consulting with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Homeland Security on setting wages for foreign farmworkers who fill about 400,000 U.S. farm jobs (yaani 4 lakh jobs). The new pay scale will also directly affect wages for U.S. farmworkers, who must be paid the same as their foreign co-workers, and indirectly influence wages on farms without foreign farmworkers, Capital Press said.

Dec. 30, 2026Court deadline for the Labor Department to issue a new H-2A wage rule
~400,000U.S. farm jobs filled by foreign seasonal workers under the program
$2.5 billionYaani 250 crore dollars — the yearly employer savings the department estimated from the lowered 2026 wages
$3–$7 / hourThe per-hour wage cut the United Farm Workers says the 2025 rule imposed

Judge Sherriff ruled in August that the current wages are too low. His August 26 ruling found the Trump administration's October 2025 adverse effect wage rate (AEWR) rule illegal because it adversely affects U.S. workers by undercutting their wages, according to the United Farm Workers, which challenged the rule with the UFW Foundation and 18 individual farmworker plaintiffs. The department had asked for up to a year to adopt new wages, but the judge gave it four months; his October 2 order requires a new interim final rule by December 30, when the current rule is vacated, Bloomberg Tax reported.

Source: Bloomberg Tax

For now, the judge has left the current wages in place, but said he will consider ordering back pay. The back-pay period could cover the months between his ruling in late August and when the department adopts new wages. The United Farm Workers says it will seek to have higher wages applied retroactively.

Source: United Farm Workers

"Trump's illegal wage cut will now have been in effect for over a year, costing farm workers money, jobs, stress, and indignity," UFW President Teresa Romero said in the union's statement. Despite the wage uncertainty, Washington farmers are still showing interest in hiring foreign workers for next year, Worker and Farmer Labor Association CEO Enrique Gastelum told Capital Press: "People are still proceeding, as is. People are struggling to find workers."