MON AM News: Migrant ag workers face steep wage cuts under federal program changes; New Bucks president aims to showcase Milwaukee on the global stage

March 30, 2026

— Federal changes to wage rates under the H-2A migrant labor program are expected to lower costs for employers in Wisconsin and elsewhere, though advocates are raising concerns about the impact on workers whose pay will drop dramatically.

Most of the workers coming to Wisconsin under the program could see their wages slashed by more than a third under new rules released late last year by federal officials.

“Certainly it’s going to be difficult,” United Migrant Opportunity Services President and CEO Jose Martinez said in a recent interview, adding “under this new system, it’s going to be harder for them to make ends meet” due to the lower wages.

The H-2A program allows agricultural employers to bring in workers from outside the United States to fill temporary positions, supplementing the domestic workforce. In Wisconsin, these laborers typically work at crop farms, plant nurseries and greenhouses doing seasonal work.

The state has seen a largely steady increase in the number of H-2A worker certifications over the past dozen years, rising from 176 in 2013 to 3,030 in 2025, according to figures from the state Department of Workforce Development.

This shift comes as Wisconsin’s ag workforce has changed significantly, with young farm family members more likely to look elsewhere for employment, rather than working at home. Tyler Wenzlaff, director of national affairs for the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, says it used to be “pretty common” for family or local high schoolers to provide most of the labor on a farm.

“Today, that model just doesn’t work anymore,” Wenzlaff told WisBusiness.com. “Young people, high school students are choosing different part-time jobs because they pay similarly and they’re a lot less work. As a result, farms have had to adapt, and they’re turning to a more diverse, but still dedicated workforce that includes many immigrants.”

Against this backdrop of rising reliance on the H-2A program, the U.S. Department of Labor last year rolled out changes to the program’s minimum wage policy, establishing a new two-tier system with different pay based on skill level.

In justifying the new rules, the federal agency wrote that employers in the U.S. ag sector are facing “a structural, not cyclical, workforce crisis” driven in part by the lack of an available, legal workforce that can adjust to labor demand changes. The DOL also references the decline of the mobile illegal immigrant workforce, noting illegal border crossings have fallen by 93% from a recent peak.

“The near total cessation of the inflow of illegal aliens combined with the lack of an available legal workforce, results in significant disruptions to production costs and threatening the stability of domestic food production and prices for U.S consumers,” the agency wrote.

Previously, one single Adverse Effect Wage Rate applied for all H-2A workers — in Wisconsin, that was $18.15 per hour. Under the new framework, employers are required to pay at least $13.29 for the lower-tier Skill Level 1 and $18.22 for the Skill Level 2, reserved for those with specialized training or experience.

But another change to the program allows employers to essentially deduct a set amount for providing required non-wage compensation benefits such as housing. This potential reduction in the hourly wage of $1.29 per hour means the new wage rates could be as low as $12 for Skill Level 1 and $16.93 for Skill Level 2 in Wisconsin.

Martinez says as much as 92% of H-2A workers will be paid under the lower tier, based on DOL estimates.

Both the state and federal non-farm minimum wage are $7.25. But employers participating in the H-2A program must comply with the AEWRs outlined in DOL regulations. These higher rates are meant to ensure employing a worker through the program doesn’t “adversely affect” wages and living conditions of domestic workers, according to analysis by the law firm Fisher Phillips.

One employer that brings on dozens of H-2A workers each year, Gumz Farms in Marquette County, expects to save on labor costs as a result of the changes.

This fifth-generation family farm grows corn, beans, mint, carrots, onions and potatoes, and packages some crops for commercial sale. In recent years, the farm has brought on about 42 H-2A workers per year to weed fields, help with harvesting and crop storage, package products and more.

Charles Poches, the business manager for Gumz Farms and a member of the Governor’s Council on Migrant Labor, acknowledged the farm will be saving money due to the lower wage rates, though he says “there’s still a little bit of ambiguity” about how exactly the new pay structure will work.

“I’m still working through what’s a level one employee, what’s a level two and the commensurate pay associated with that,” he said.

At the same time, he noted the substantial pay cut for those workers who fall under the lower tier.

“We’re still trying to determine where our people fall,” he said. “Going from $18.15 last year down to $12 an hour is quite a jump, and trying to balance what is economically sound for the farm with making sure we still have people in Mexico who are engaged in employment and wanting to come across.”

See the full story.

— The new president of the Milwaukee Bucks, Josh Glessing, views the team as a vehicle for driving economic development while showcasing the city and state.

Glessing, who took over for former president Peter Feigin earlier this year, addressed the Rotary Club of Milwaukee during the group’s latest gathering.

He told members he aims to “leverage the Milwaukee Bucks as a platform for good” while spotlighting the city and state for a global audience.

“The Brewers is an incredible organization, but doesn’t have the same global appeal. The Green Bay Packers is a behemoth, but does not have the same global appeal. Those are not watched on a global stage in the way the NBA is,” he said last week, adding “there are more people who watch the NBA in China than there are people in America.”

He touted the impact of the Fiserv Forum on the downtown Milwaukee market, noting a new hotel is coming this summer, along with the area’s new Live Nation concert venue and a multi-family housing project under development.

Partners in that project will break ground soon on the second phase of that project, he said, noting “we’ve got great ambitions for a commercial project” there as well.

“It’s so easy in some of these instances to get lost in the sports story, the championship story, the wins and losses story, but the reality is that facility is an economic driver in the city to bring events that otherwise would not have come to Milwaukee,” he said.

Watch the video.

— More than 1 million family caregivers in Wisconsin provide an estimated $11.1 billion in unpaid labor per year, a new AARP report shows.

AARP Wisconsin recently released state-level figures from the national group’s Valuing the Invaluable 2026 report. It shows 1,030,000 state residents provide 560 million hours of unpaid care for older parents, spouses, neighbors and other loved ones each year.

The group’s $11.1 billion estimate is calculated based on this work being compensated at a rate of $19.75 per hour. That estimated value ranges from $14.12 per hour in Louisiana to $27.05 per hour in Washington, the report notes.

AARP Wisconsin State Director Raj Shukla says providing this care “comes at huge cost” to caregivers’ health and finances.

“Family caregivers are an economic force who fill critical gaps in our health care system,” Shukla said in a statement on the findings.

See the report.

Top headlines from the Health Care Report…

— Wisconsin has seen a substantial increase in addiction treatment access for inmates over the last five years, according to the latest report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

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Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from the latest WisBusiness column by manufacturing expert Buckley Brinkman.

— Most of the people talking about AI make it sound mysterious and complicated. They get away with it because previous technologies required deep pockets and PhD-level understanding to use them.

One of my biggest frustrations is that this combination of factors increases confusion and slows our ability to understand and realize the benefits of this revolutionary technology.

That frustration resurfaced last week.

Read the full column.

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