Changes to H-2A visa program wage rates expected to hit ND farmers

  • Brothers, Ryan [23, left] and Richard [19, right] Kemp, workers from South Africa on H-2A visas, prepare an old grain bin for transfer to another section of Stephanie Hatzenbuhler’s ranch just west of Mandan. Photo Michael Standaert.
    Brothers, Ryan [23, left] and Richard [19, right] Kemp, workers from South Africa on H-2A visas, prepare an old grain bin for transfer to another section of Stephanie Hatzenbuhler’s ranch just west of Mandan. Photo Michael Standaert.
  • Lenci Sickler of Dunn County, fears costs will increase to employ H-2A visa workers under new Department of Labor wage rules. Photo Michael Standaert.
    Lenci Sickler of Dunn County, fears costs will increase to employ H-2A visa workers under new Department of Labor wage rules. Photo Michael Standaert.

    Congressional, legal action may lessen impact

    For farmers like Dunn County’s Lenci Sickler, recent U.S. Department of Labor rule changes that alter the pay rates for temporary seasonal foreign workers could cause his labor costs to skyrocket, he said, unless they are rescinded.

    Sickler supplements his staff with three workers from South Africa who travel to North Dakota on H-2A visas for seasonal sp…