Manufacturing Farmworker Displacement: How Local Agricultural Workers are Displaced in Washington State

Executive Summary

Washington State’s agricultural industry — ranked first in the nation in the production of apples, blueberries, cherries, and hops — relies heavily on immigrant farmworkers who have sustained the sector for decades. In recent years, however, the rapid expansion of the H-2A guestworker program has begun to reshape agricultural labor markets across the state. Originally intended as a temporary solution to labor shortages, the H-2A program is increasingly being used as a primary hiring mechanism, raising concerns about the displacement of local farmworkers and the erosion of job opportunities in already vulnerable communities.

This report examines how the growth of the H-2A program is affecting local immigrant farmworkers in Washington State. Drawing on 75 interviews with farmworkers, advocates, growers, and state officials, 179 surveys of farmworkers in Eastern Washington, and evidence from state enforcement actions, the analysis documents how recruitment practices, regulatory gaps, and weak oversight are reshaping hiring patterns and limiting access to work.

This report finds:

• Growers are increasingly relying on online job postings to meet federal hiring requirements, even though many local workers never see these postings, allowing employers to expand their use of H-2A workers.
• State enforcement cases confirm that some employers have unlawfully replaced local farmworkers with H-2A workers, with particularly severe impacts on women.
• Across the state, local farmworkers report fewer job opportunities, reduced hours, and declining earnings, often on farms where they have worked for years.
• These shifts are contributing to rising economic insecurity, including food and housing instability, compounded by fear of immigration enforcement.

To address these challenges, the report recommends:

• Strengthening farmworker labor rights, collective bargaining protections, and gender-based labor protections for female farmworkers who are disproportionately impacted by displacement and the growth of the H-2A program.
• Improving data collection on the agricultural workforce.
• Closing recruitment loopholes and strengthening oversight of H-2A hiring practices.
• Expanding enforcement capacity and legal protections.
• Investing in economic supports for farmworker households, including childcare.

Together, these actions are necessary to ensure that employer use of H-2A recruitment loopholes does not undermine access to jobs for local farmworkers and that Washington State’s agricultural economy remains fair, stable, and sustainable.