36 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN February 2026 Labor Landscape Navigating the Ever-Changing Labor Market in Ag TRESSA LAWRENCE | CONTRIBUTING WRITER According to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, the average age of American producers was 58.1 years, up 0.6 years from the previous census in 2017. With an aging workforce, the labor market within the ag industry has received a lot of attention over the last few years. The labor shortage isn’t hitting just one sector of the beef industry. From cow-calf operations to backgrounders and feedlots, and farmers growing the crops to feed them, to sale barns and processing plants, everyone is feeling the pinch when it comes to hiring reliable labor who is either qualified or willing to learn. “It’s no secret in the beef industry that the work is hard, hard labor, and when given the chance to not perform labor and make more money, well, for a lot of folks, that’s a pretty easy decision,” says Todd Miller, founder and owner of Head Honchos, a company dedicated to helping people recruit legal seasonal workers from foreign countries and secure the appropriate visas to supplement the current workforce demand domestically. “People are aging out, and people are getting out of the ag industry in general,” he says. “It takes a special person to be committed to that kind of hard work, and those people just are not out there in the volumes that they used to be.” Aside from an aging demographic, there are multiple factors driving the dwindling workforce. Compared to 50 years ago, younger generations have access to a much broader version of the world outside of the family operation and often pursue more lucrative careers elsewhere. Rising input costs and labor expenses often leave producers struggling to get ahead, even with the high cattle markets. Pair any of that with the physical demands or the need to keep up with the constantly evolving technology within agriculture, and it is easy to understand why workers are hesitant to enter and stay in the workforce. Those challenges aside, Nebraskans are continuing to accomplish the hard work and are evolving the labor market along the way to do so. Bringing in Help As borders have tightened over the last few years, access to seasonal laborers has become more challenging for some. Laborers now need to acquire the appropriate visas to work in the United States, a process that can sometimes feel daunting to navigate. The H-2A visa program allows U.S. employers who meet specific regulatory requirements to bring laborers from foreign countries to fill temporary agricultural jobs. These regulatory requirements include offering a temporary or seasonal job in agriculture; demonstrating that there is not enough able, willing or qualified people available to do the job; and showing that employing H-2A workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers. “Getting the rancher or farmer qualified for the program is a very straightforward process, and this is the reason that we have been so successful in getting workers to your door, on time and ready to go to work,” Miller says. After struggling to find qualified and willing help in Nebraska, Rusty Kemp of Tryon has utilized H-2A employees on his family’s operation off and on since 2018. Most of the guest laborers he has used have come from South Africa. “We have to advertise this position and if an American applies for the job, we have to give the American the job,” Kemp says. “I’ve never had an American apply for the job. There’s more and more interest in coming here to work. For one position, I have probably had over 1,000 foreign applications for it.” Typically, the H-2A employees are authorized for the working season but can extend the visas in increments of up to
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