H2A Program Guest Workers in California Grazing Operations

Commodities

• Animals: bovine, goats, sheep
• Animal Products: fiber, fur, leather

Practices

• Animal Production: grazing management, housing
• Education and Training: on-farm/ranch research, participatory research, workshop
• Farm Business Management: budgets/cost and returns, labor/employment
• Production Systems: holistic management
• Soil Management: soil quality/health
• Sustainable Communities: analysis of personal/family life, community planning, community services, employment opportunities, ethnic differences/cultural and demographic change, public policy, quality of life, sustainability measures, values-based supply chains

• Problem: Skilled labor recruitment and retention in livestock outfits is unsustainable and often unavailable. The H2A visa program has its intended benefits but common challenges. Solutions for program suggestions often place economic and social benefits for workers and producers as mutually exclusive. 
• Research Question: What challenges and barriers are producers and workers facing in recruitment and retention through the H2A visa program? Is the H2A program a holistically beneficial program for workers and producers? If not, how can it be improved and/or what other pathways of labor recruitment and retention could be improved or created?
• Creatively addressing the identified problem: As researchers, our creative approach to the problem is to immerse ourselves in methods that appropriately address the project’s research objectives. Engaging in qualitative field research is a creative approach to the problem, which uniquely positions the project to gain nuanced data of producer and worker experiences with the H2A program. These experiences are not easily gained through analysis of available quantitative data. 
• Outreach: Outreach will involve conducting formal and informal interviews with outfit owners, producers, recruited labor (through the H2A visa program and otherwise), professional recruiters. Further creative solutions are part of our educational objectives, and will be informed by the data we gain during field research. Regardless of presented content, defined by our project findings, some creative outputs for educational outreach include workshops, producer and worker training, resources and project findings made publicly available through digital media, and an interdisciplinary and interactive mapping event focused on research materials.
  
• Significance and Outcomes: Desired outcomes include data to support policy proposals, review, and analysis to further serve producers and workers; participation in educational and community-oriented events and training to directly support producers, workers, and organizations that serve them in how to best engage with the H2A visa program.

Research Design: Primary research for this project will take place between the months of April and October of 2025. Document and content analysis, as well as coordination for survey distribution will take place between February and June of 2025. Surveys will be distributed between May and October of 2025. Field research will take place between June and September of 2025. Andrea Baeza will spend the summer months in California visiting our collaborating producers to engage in qualitative research with owner/operators, H2A program workers, and domestic workers. Analysis of collected data will take place between October of 2025 and May of 2026.

Project Site(s): Multiple ranches and operations in the state of California, including Shepherdess Land & Livestock in Ojai, California, Kaos Sheep outfit in Lake County, California, and Star Creek Land Stewards in Los Banos, CA. California consulate offices, California Employment Development Department offices, worker and producer sites of work, rest and recreation.

Data Collection:

Qualitative: Structured and semi-structured interviews, participant and non-participant observation, focus groups discussion, document analysis, survey distribution. 

Quantitative: GIS data analysis, data sourced from USCIS, census bureau, and operator records. Findings to be visualized using GIS. 

Analysis Methods: 

Qualitative: Thematic analysis, content analysis, narrative analysis, grounded-theory analysis.  survey methodology, secondary data analysis

Quantitative: descriptive statistics.

Research Objectives:

1. Research Objective One: Understand what parts of the H2A process are barriers and challenges according to producers
   1. Sub-Objective: Understand interpersonal barriers and challenges
   2. Sub-Objective: Understand structural barriers and challenges

This objective will be met by conducting structured and semi-structured interviews as well as focus group discussions with producers in-person and remotely. Additionally, a survey will be sent out to interested producers. Organizations that will be contacted for interest in support with survey participant recruitment include (but not limited to) The American Sheep Association, California Wool Growers, Quivira Coalition, Grazing School of the West, Fibershed, CA Climate Action Network. Survey options will be online or non-digital. Project sites include producer ranches of collaborating producers.

Research and analysis methods are qualitative and include content analysis, participant observation, thematic and narrative analysis, structured and semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and survey distribution. “Barriers and challenges” are defined as such by the interviewee. This portion of the research will be conducted between February of 2025 to October of 2025.

1. Research Objective Two: Understand what parts of the H2A process are barriers and challenges according to H2A program workers
   1. Sub-Objective: Understand interpersonal barriers and challenges
   2. Sub-Objective: Understand structural barriers and challenges

This objective will be met by conducting structured and semi-structured in-person interviews with workers, focus group discussions, participant observation, and survey distribution. Groups that will be contacted for support with survey participant recruitment include the California Employment Development Department and collaborating producers. Project sites include producer ranches of collaborating producers, Employment Development Department offices, and Consulate offices.

Research and analysis methods are qualitative and include content analysis, participant observation, thematic and narrative analysis, structured and semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and survey distribution. “Barriers and challenges” are defined as such by the interviewee. This portion of the research will be conducted between February of 2025 to October of 2025.

1. Research Objective Three: Understand what parts of the H2A process cause barriers and challenges according to domestic workers
   1. Sub-Objective: Understand interpersonal barriers and challenges
   2. Sub-Objective: Understand structural barriers and challenges

This objective will be met by conducting structured and semi-structured interviews as well as focus group discussions with domestic workers who have worked for or attempted to work for operations who employ, have employed, or plan to employ H2A visa workers. These will be conducted in-person and remotely. Additionally, a survey will be sent out to interested domestic workers. Organizations that will be contacted for support with survey participant recruitment include (but not limited to) The American Sheep Association, California Wool Growers, Quivira Coalition, Grazing School of the West, Fibershed, CA Climate Action Network. Survey options will be online or non-digital. Project sites include domestic workers’ sites of rest, recreation or work.

Research and analysis methods are qualitative and include content analysis, participant observation, thematic and narrative analysis, structured and semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and survey distribution. “Barriers and challenges” are defined as such by the interviewee. This portion of the research will be conducted between February of 2025 to October of 2025.

1. Research Objective Four: Understand what parts of the H2A process work well according to producers
   1. Sub-Objective: Understand interpersonal successes
   2. Sub-Objective: Understand structural successes

This objective will be met by conducting structured and semi-structured interviews with producers as well as focus group discussions in-person and remotely. Additionally, a survey will be sent out to interested producers. Organizations that will be contacted for interest in support with survey participant recruitment include (but not limited to) The American Sheep Association, California Wool Growers, Quivira Coalition, Grazing School of the West, Fibershed, CA Climate Action Network. Survey options will be online or non-digital. Project sites include producer ranches of collaborating producers.

Research and analysis methods are qualitative and include content analysis, participant observation, thematic and narrative analysis, structured and semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and survey distribution. “Successes” are defined as such by the interviewee. This portion of the research will be conducted between February of 2025 to October of 2025.

1. Research Objective Five: Understand what parts of the H2A process work well according to H2A program workers
   1. Sub-Objective: Understand interpersonal successes
   2. Sub-Objective: Understand structural successes

This objective will be met by conducting structured and semi-structured in-person interviews with workers, participant observation, and survey distribution. Groups that will be contacted for support with survey participant recruitment include the California Employment Development Department and collaborating producers. Project sites include collaborating producers work sites, worker housing, and Employment Development Department offices, and Consulate offices.

Research and analysis methods are qualitative and include content analysis, participant observation, thematic and narrative analysis, structured and semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and survey distribution. “Successes” are defined as such by the interviewee. This portion of the research will be conducted between February of 2025 to October of 2025.

1. Research Objective Six: Understand what parts of the H2A process work well according to domestic workers
   1. Sub-Objective: Understand interpersonal successes
   2. Sub-Objective: Understand structural successes

This objective will be met by conducting structured, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with domestic workers. This will be done in-person and remotely. Additionally, a survey will be sent out to interested domestic workers. Organizations that will be contacted for interest in support with survey participant recruitment include (but not limited to) The American Sheep Association, California Wool Growers, Quivira Coalition, Grazing School of the West, Fibershed, CA Climate Action Network. Survey options will be online or non-digital. Project sites include domestic worker sites of rest, recreation, and work. 

Research and analysis methods are qualitative and include content analysis, participant observation, thematic and narrative analysis, structured and semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and survey distribution. “Successes” are defined as such by the interviewee. This portion of the research will be conducted between February of 2025 to October of 2025.

1. Research Objective Seven: Understand the role of professional recruiters in the H2A program hiring process
   1. Sub-Objective: Understand the role of professional recruiters within guestworker originating country
   2. Sub-Objective: Understand the role of professional recruiters within the US
   3. Sub-Objective: Gather and assess producer experiences with professional recruiters
   4. Sub-Objective: Gather and assess worker experiences with professional recruiters

This objective will be met by conducting structured and semi-structured in-person interviews with workers, producers, and recruiters, engaging in participant observation, and survey distribution. Groups that will be contacted for support with survey participant recruitment include the California Employment Development Department and collaborating producers. Project sites include producer ranches of collaborating producers, Employment Development Department offices, and Consulate offices.

Research and analysis methods are qualitative and include content analysis, participant observation, thematic and narrative analysis, structured and semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and survey distribution. Quantitative research includes analysis of census data and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data. This portion of the research will be conducted between February of 2025 to October of 2025.

1. Research Objective Eight: Understand interpersonal relationships between H2A visa workers, producers, and domestic workers in livestock and/or grazing operations
   1. Sub-objective: Gather and assess data on gendered relationships and interactions between H2A visa workers, producers, and domestic workers in livestock and grazing operations 
   2. Sub-Objective: Gather and assess data on working relationships between H2A visa program workers and domestic labor
   3. Sub-Objective: Gather and assess data on working relationships between H2A visa program workers and employers
   4. Sub-Objective: Gather and assess data on working relationships between H2A visa program workers and employers’ families

This objective will be met by conducting structured and semi-structured interviews, and engaging in participant observation with H2A program workers, domestic workers, and producers. These interviews will take place in-person. Project sites include collaborating producer ranches, contracted work sites, producer and worker home and recreational sites.

Analysis methods include content analysis, participant observation, thematic and narrative analysis. This portion of the research will be conducted between June of 2025 through September of 2025.

1. Research Objective Nine: Aggregate possible solutions or desired outcomes from producers, workers, and domestic workers in order to make policy recommendations to better the program

This objective will be met by conducting structured, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with producers, H2A program participants, and domestic workers in-person and remotely. Additionally, a survey will be sent out to interested parties. Organizations that will be contacted for interest in support with survey participant recruitment include (but not limited to) The American Sheep Association, California Wool Growers, Quivira Coalition, Grazing School of the West, Fibershed, CA Climate Action Network. Survey options will be online or non-digital. Project sites include producer ranches of collaborating producers and sites of rest, recreation or work.

Research and analysis methods are qualitative and include content analysis, participant observation, thematic and narrative analysis, structured and semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and survey distribution. This portion of the research will be conducted between February of 2025 to October of 2025.

Educational Plan:

Our project team members are well connected in the agricultural field. We will use these connections to make our findings widely available. Our educational plan includes outreach to producers, worker advocates, producer training groups, agricultural professionals and technical providers, and dissemination of project results in academic spaces. We are excited to make our findings publicly available in order to best help producers and workers navigate the program for beneficial outcomes, and to contribute to policy recommendations that provide sustainable options for agricultural employment. Our methods include workshops, talks, visual discussion pieces, academic papers, and digital media. 

Educational Objectives:

• Educational Objective One: Disseminate project results to producers

1. 1. How: Work with connected producer supported organizations to integrate our findings into their programming or create resources together. These include Grazing School of the West, Quivira Coalition, Zenger Farm, Pineros Y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), Fibershed, Oregon Small Farm School, Newcowgirl Camp, Regenerate Conference, American Sheep Association, California Wool Growers
   2. When: June through August of 2026
   3. Where: A workshop will take place at Zenger Farm in June of 2026. Information integrated into programming for the rest of the organizations will be planned in collaboration and will take place either at their home-base, or online.

1. Educational Objective Two: Disseminate project results, with a focus on workers’ rights to H2A program workers
   1. How: Connect with appropriate consulate offices of California depending on quantitative research demonstrating highest percentages of originating countries of H2A program workers. Work with the California Employment Development Department’s Monitor Advocate Office and Migrant Seasonal Farmer (MSFW) Outreach program employees to integrate our findings into their outreach. Work with advocacy organizations supporting farm workers including (but not limited to) Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, and United Farm Workers (UFW) to integrate our findings into their programming, or create resources together.
   2. When: Between the months of June - August 2026
   3. Where: Work with PCUN will take place in Woodburn, OR. Work with consulate offices and California’s Monitor Advocate office will take place online or in-person. Information integrated into programming for the rest of the organizations will be planned in collaboration and will take place either at their home-base, or online.

1. Educational Objective Three: Disseminate project results to technical providers and agricultural professionals
   1. How: Connect with groups who provide technical assistance or advocacy to producers and workers to integrate our findings into their existing programming. These include (not limited to) NRCS representatives, Young Farmers Coalition, Rogue Farm Corps, Oregon State University Extension, Zenger Farm, Fibershed, Oregon Small Farm School, Regenerate Conference, American Sheep Association, California Wool Growers
   2. When: Between the months of June - August of 2026
   3. Where: A workshop for Zenger Farm will take place in June of 2026. Programming or resources planned with other organizations will take place through in-person and online coordination.

1. Educational Objective Four: Disseminate project results in academic spaces and to the general public
   1. How: Submit findings for publication in a peer-reviewed geography journal. Host a fiber event to share a fiber map of where the work was conducted while presenting our findings. Make a GIS visualization of our findings publicly available.
   2. When: Submission for publication will take place between February and June of 2026. A fiber map event will take place between April and August of 2026. A GIS visualization of our project findings will be made available between April and June of 2026.
   3. Where: Dissemination of project results into academic spaces and the general public will take place online and in-person in Portland, Oregon.