Monty Lilford works in the fabrication shop at B&B Agri Sales in Buffalo County, Wis., on Oct. 6, 2025. (Paul Kiefer / Wisconsin Watch)

Wisconsin farmers are increasingly hiring workers through the H-2A visa program — even as slow-moving bureaucracy and costs cause headaches. Looming rules changes bring uncertainty.

By Paul Kiefer

Wisconsin Watch

This story was produced and originally published by Wisconsin Watch, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. It was made possible by donors like you.

By the time Monty Lilford received a call from the American consulate in Cape Town in February, he had only days to get from his home in South Africa’s Western Cape to Wisconsin’s Driftless Area. If all went according to plan, the 35-year-old mechanic would spend the next nine months as a do-it-all f

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