There were fewer local workers detasseling seed corn in Iowa in 2025 than in previous years as the number of temporary migrant laborers with H-2A visas doing the jobs increased, according to data reviewed by The Midwest Newsroom.
An analysis of information from Iowa Workforce Development showed there has been a significant reduction in the number of seed corn detasseling contractors working in Iowa, as well as in the mostly teenage workforce, since 2018.
The IWD data also revealed that, in 2025, H-2A workers outnumbered non-H-2A workers in Iowa’s seed corn fields four to one. And the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services H-2A database shows a higher ratio of migrant to domestic detasselers…