Is Your Farm or Ag Business Eligible for the H2A Program?
The H2A Program fills an essential void for U.S. farmers and ag businesses who are unable to find sufficient domestic quality farm labor to support their peak season. This government-mandated visa program allows farmers and ag businesses to legally recruit and hire seasonal foreign workers once they receive an approved Temporary Labor Certification from the Department of Labor.
H2A Program eligibility criteria
The government requires H2A employers to meet specific criteria in order to participate in the H2A Visa Program. These criteria include:
Performing work that is agricultural in nature, meaning the worker must carry out farmwork physically on a farm or must perform work directly for a farmer’s farming operation
Having a temporary need for quality farm labor (defined by the government as seasonal and 10 months or less)
Being unable to find enough willing, qualified American workers
Owning at least 51% of their commodity/product (Fixed-Site farmers)
So, what types of farms and ag businesses are eligible to participate in the H2A Program?
Farms and ag businesses that are eligible for the H2A Visa Program
The usual H2A Program suspects
As you can probably guess, the majority of farms and ag businesses requesting H2A farm labor are those growing labor-intensive crops, such as fruits, nuts, and vegetables. At the December 2025 NCAE Ag Forum, Dr. Phil Martin summed up the main five sectors for farm labor employer demand to include crop support services, greenhouse and nursery, fruits and nuts, dairy, and vegetables.
Specifically, most H-2A employers fall into one of these main categories:
Crop Production:
Vegetables & Melons: Potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes, sweet corn, and beans, onions, carrots, peppers, broccoli, sweet potatoes, and melons
Fruits & Nuts: Apples, berries, grapes, citrus, peaches, pears, cherries, and tropical fruits like bananas and mangoes
Field Crops: Corn, wheat, soybeans, hay, cotton, sorghum, rice, barley, oats, canola, peanuts, sunflower, sugar beets
Horticulture: Nursery & Floriculture
Support Activities:
Support for Crop Production: Includes soil and water management
Agricultural Support Services: Includes equipment prep, harvesting, fertilizer and pesticide application, drainage and irrigation specialists, well drillers—even mobile ag equipment repair. These services are typically provided by Farm Labor Contractors (FLCs) or Custom Harvesters that travel to other farms to help harvest crops.
Livestock:
Animal Agriculture and Livestock Management: This pertains mainly to range livestock (cattle/sheep/goats), as most dairy and poultry farm labor needs are year-round, so they don’t qualify as temporary under the H2A Program
Some eligible farms and ag businesses that might surprise you
While the types of operations above are obvious choices for the H2A Program, some ag businesses like the ones listed below may not fit the typical mold but may still be eligible, such as:
Orchards
Beekeepers
Vineyards
Horse ranches
Fish hatcheries
Landscapers
Mobile vets
A few outlier examples of approved H2A Program employers
Being an H2A agency for more than 22 years, USA Farm Labor has worked with a wide range of farms and ag businesses, helping them get their Temporary Labor Certifications and providing them with verified, skilled farm labor.
For example, we have a pine tree farmer in Georgia that hired an H2A crew for five months to gather pine needles. Then there’s our South Carolina farmer who hired skilled H2A farm labor through us to do crawfishing for six months. Trust us, we can get creative when we have to while still keeping you compliant with all the H2A rules and regulations.
Types of farms and ag businesses that currently are not eligible
Certain types of ag operations, such as dairy and poultry farms, are currently not eligible for the H2A Visa Program. The government sees the farm labor need for these businesses as year-round versus seasonal or temporary. However, government talks are currently underway to possibly modify these H2A Program limitations in the future.
Things to know when deciding what types of H2A workers you need
While technology is modernizing and automating many aspects of farming, there are still plenty of crops and farm labor jobs that require skilled manual labor across the entire cycle, including:
Planting—This includes planting seeds and seedlings for the coming harvest
Tending and maintenance—This includes irrigation, weeding, pruning, and pest management
Harvesting—Timing is everything when it comes maximizing quality and market value, and delicate crops must be picked by hand
Packing and sorting—This includes preparing crops for distribution, ensuring food safety and proper handling of perishables
H2A employers must specify the tasks and duties for the requested H2A workers in their job description when applying for their Temporary Labor Certification. H2A workers can only perform the tasks and duties specified on the ETA-790, which serves as the job contract. USA Farm Labor assigns you a dedicated Case Manager who not only manages the paperwork for you but also helps fine-tune your job descriptions, applying best practices to help ensure approval.
Here are the five main SOC codes for ag jobs in the H2A Program:
45-2041: Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products
45-2091: Agricultural Equipment Operators
45-2092: Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse
45-2093: Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals
53-7064: Packers and Packagers, Hand
According to a report published by the Department of Labor, the most common H2A jobs outside these five main codes are:
53-3032: Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
47-2061: Construction Laborers
45-1011: First-Line Supervisors of Agricultural Crop and Horticultural Workers
49-3041: Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians
45-4022: Logging Equipment Operators
Skilled farm labor can make all the difference
USA Farm Labor specializes in providing verified, skilled farm labor for H2A employers—such as Ag Equipment Operators and Ag Pilots. We partner with USA Truck Labor, a South Africa-based organization that delivers first-rate training on the same equipment used on U.S. farms. They also provide verification to help ensure H2A workers arrive with the needed skills. The ability to review the skills, references, and experience of the 6,000-plus verified, skilled workers in our proprietary database ensures you find the skilled farm labor you need.
Not sure if you’re eligible to participate in the H2A Program? There’s a quick and easy way to find out.
