Agriculture
Agriculture and farming is a cherished part of American identity and remains an important part of the American economy. In 2020, the agriculture, fishing, and forestry industries contributed more than $175 billion to U.S. GDP and supported more than 2.3 million workers. The health of America's farms and the agriculture industry, however, is tied directly to immigration. Farmers frequently worry about finding enough workers as few Americans seem willing to take on the most difficult and physical farm jobs—particularly those harvesting fresh fruits and vegetables. Yet the H-2A visa, the only agricultural visa currently available to American farms, is too expensive and cumbersome to work for many U.S. growers. We explore this issue—and the way it costs our economy—below.
Growing Produce: Opinion: Give Tech Companies the Expertise They Lack
While I was eating lunch during United Fresh 2017 in Chicago, a venture capitalist for precision ag sat down next to me. He told me he and his firm are seeking specialty crop technology firms to invest in, but he’s running into a problem. Not many startups understand real-world growing. Read More
South Carolina Community Would Be Ghost Town Without Immigrants, Says Businessman
Saluda businessman Hector Ortiz knows exactly what would happen if the town’s foreign-born population was deported or left out of fear. “Without the immigrants to work at the poultry plants, this would become a ghost town,” he says. Ortiz, who runs an insurance company in the town of 3,500, points to… Read More
Millions of Dollars at Stake When Visas for Japanese Roe Technicians Delayed
It’s hard not to marvel at the organization of the Alaska seafood business, which maintains a reliably healthy fishery while pumping billions of dollars into the national economy every year. It begins with rigorous resource management by the state and ends with an elaborate, private, global distribution system. Smack in… Read More
The Edmond Sun (OK): Opinion: Immigration reform is necessary for Farmers and Ranchers
Why don’t they just get in line? This is the question many ask when it comes to immigrants attempting to enter our country to work. At this point, it is important we acknowledge that under our current immigration laws, it is simpler to come here illegally… Read More
Immigrants Ready, Able, and Needed on Wisconsin Dairy Farms
Mar-Bec Dairy has 900 dairy cows and grows feed on 1,800 acres. To keep the operation running, owner Marty Hallock depends on immigrants: 9 of his 17 full-time employees are from Mexico. “These people are committed to dairy farming,” he says, “and absolutely vital to my operation.” Without these steady… Read More
Award-Winning Dairy Farmer Depends on Immigrant Workforce
With 430 milk cows, Mitch Breunig’s family farm, Mystic Valley Dairy, in Sauk City, Wisconsin, is a large operation. The round-the-clock job of caring for the animals is done by the farm’s eight full-time employees, seven of whom are immigrants from Latin America. “They come to Wisconsin for the opportunity… Read More
Without Immigrants, Dairy States Would Suffer
In Shelly Mayer’s view, the United States isn’t facing an immigrant labor shortage but a rural labor shortage. Specifically, a farm labor shortage. Mayer is the executive director of the Professional Dairy Producers® (PDPW), a national development organization for dairy professionals. She sees the labor shortage problem close up, and it’s nationwide. “We have fewer farms,… Read More
Immigration Policy Needs to Support American Farms, Says Iowan
When the government makes it difficult for immigrants to come to the United States, “we’re shooting ourselves in the foot,” says John Weber, an Iowa farmer and past president of the National Pork Producers Council. His farm, Valley Lane Farms Inc., in Dysart, Iowa, produces 2,400 acres of feed corn… Read More
To Grow US. Apples, America’s Farmers Need Immigration Reform
In 2011, third-generation apple farmer Phil Glaize, drove up and down the eastern seaboard searching for farm workers. He had made a point of only hiring Americans to work his 650-acre farm, which produces roughly $5.5 million in revenue annually. But as the economy improved after the recession, he found… Read More
Stillwater News Press (OK): Opinion: Immigration reform necessary for farmers
Why don’t they just get in line? This is the question many ask when it comes to immigrants attempting to enter our country to work. At this point, it is important we acknowledge that under our current immigration laws, it is simpler to come here illegally… Read More
Immigrants and American Farms
In 2019, more than half of all hired farmworkers in the United States were immigrants, or roughly 450,000 workers. In many states known for their fresh produce, immigrant farm laborers make up large shares of miscellaneous agriculture workers—the occupation that includes those hand picking crops in the field.
Share of Miscellaneous Agricultural Workers in Crop Production, Undocumented, 2019
Farm Labor Shortages
In recent years, the number of new immigrants arriving in the country to work in agriculture has fallen by 75 percent. Rising wages indicate this has led to a major labor shortage on U.S. farms—making it difficult for many growers to stay in business or expand their operations. The workers left are also aging rapidly, meaning shortages will likely worsen as they retire.
Decline in Key States
The Aging of Foreign-Born Farm Workers
The Cost of Our Farm Labor Shortage
Because agriculture is intertwined with so many other industries in our economy—such as transportation, packing, and irrigation—a shortage of farm workers hurts the U.S. economy more broadly. We estimate U.S. growers would have produced $3.1 billion more in fresh fruits and vegetables per year by 2014 had farm labor not been an issue. The table in this section shows the costs to the U.S. economy for failing to meet this target.
Rising Imports
In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables Americans eat that is imported. Although many factors play into this phenomenon, we estimate labor shortages alone explain 27 percent of the market share decline experienced by U.S. growers from 1998-2000 to 2010-2012. Had growers maintained their hold on the domestic market, an estimated 89,300 additional U.S. jobs would have been created by 2012.
Jobs Americans Won’t Do
U.S. fresh produce growers have long said that few, if any, American workers are willing to take on the most arduous farm jobs. We studied this issue in North Carolina, examining how many American workers actually applied for heavily advertised farming positions in 2011, a period when the country was still recovering from the recession. The table in this section shows the results.
The H-2A Visa
The H-2A visa program, the only visa currently available to bring in temporary agriculture workers, is too cumbersome and unworkable for many farms. Farmers desperate for workers frequently go through the application process only to receive their laborers late, resulting in crop loss.
Sources:
1 “Why Domestic Agriculture Needs New, Workable Farm Labor Alternatives Now,” National Council of Agricultural Employers, 2011. Available online.
2Ibid.
3Ibid.
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