Atlanta, Georgia – Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is once again working hard to help the state’s farmers deal with rising costs. Carr’s most recent move was to ask Congress to act quickly to help agricultural employers who rely on the H-2A guest worker program. The Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) is at the center of the problem. It has gone up a lot in the last few years, making it much harder for Georgia’s farms to continue in business.
Carr wrote to the leaders of Congress and asked them to enact H.R. 1624, also known as the “Supporting Farm Operations Act of 2025,” right away. This bill will bring the AEWR back to what it was in 2023 and stop salary increases until the end of 2026. Carr says that these price increases aren’t just a small problem; they’re a big problem for farmers trying to make it in a tough economic environment.
“We won’t let D.C. dictate how we farm here in Georgia,” Carr said in a press release, making it clear that he views the latest wage mandates as government overreach that threatens the state’s number one industry.
The numbers paint a stark picture. Georgia farmers are facing a projected 9.5 percent wage increase for H-2A labor in 2025, following 14 percent and 7 percent increases in the previous two years.
“These increases are crushing Georgia farmers,” said State Representative Robert Dickey, chairman of the House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee. “Agriculture producers have a hard enough time as it is, but when a prior administration increases foreign labor wage rates over 20 percent in the past 3 years, it is devastating.”
The proposed bill would provide farmers some much-needed breathing room by stopping the sharp rise in costs that has left many people in shock.
Carr’s most recent push is just one component of a larger effort to protect Georgia’s agricultural interests. Last year, he successfully fought against a federal rule that would have let temporary H-2A farm workers join unions. Earlier this year, he also fought against new Environmental Protection Agency rules that would have made pollution controls harsher for thousands of meat and poultry factories. Carr also worked with other states to stop a broad reinterpretation of federally protected rivers. He said this would have put too many new restrictions on farmers.
Read also: Augusta mental health provider indicted for stealing $255K from Georgia Medicaid program
Carr has also said many times that he is willing to engage with federal agencies when it helps Georgia. In late 2024, he wrote to the Secretaries of Labor and Agriculture to ask for help with the growing pay rates. That same year, he and Governor Brian Kemp agreed to give farmers and timber producers $100 million in disaster relief after Hurricane Helene hit.
Carr is putting more pressure on Congress to act with his latest letter. He says he will keep fighting for Georgia’s farmers until the issue is resolved. Farmers and agricultural officials in the state are keeping a careful eye on things for now, expecting that the costs will stop going up.
Find a copy of Carr’s most recent letter here.
