Farm workers and the new administration

“On Jan. 7, the pre-dawn quiet of Kern County was shattered by a series of Customs and Border Protection raids billed as “targeted criminal enforcement.” The day after the first Kern County sweep, one citrus operation reported that 25% of its workers did not show up. By the following day, that number had climbed to 75%.” (from here).

The California produce farm community has sought for years for federal legislation that normalizes the status of unauthorized workers. Unless there is a comprehensive immigration reform package, there is no chance such legislation will pass.  Over the past 15 years these firms have relied less and less on unauthorized workers. However, If the Trump administration goes after these workers, and also make it more difficult for farms to use legally temporary workers (H-2A visas), there will be a serious labor supply problem. More food will be imported. If Trump imposes major tariffs on Mexico and other Latin American countries, food, primarily produces and nuts, will become more expensive. Half of vegetables, fruits and nuts are imported, roughly doubling in market share in 15 years.

California has been the leading farm state since 1949. A major role of farming in the state are fresh produce. Mexican born workers dominate the farm workforce, which includes about 420,000 full time equivalent workers at any time. Mexicans have an average of eight years education and average 42 years old. Half of them are unauthorized.   The unauthorized Mexican workforce in the United States, including California farms, began to a decline after the financial crisis. In the last 15 years, farms throughout the United States including California have relied more and more on temporary H-2A workers workers. (Here is my overview of this program, posted in 2013.) With decreasing dependence on unauthorized workers, farms–particularly the very large ones– drove up the H-2A workforce from about 75,000 in 2010 to 400,000 today.

H2A guest workers are mostly Mexican men in their 30s who work about six months a year. They cost employers $25 to $30 an hour which includes housing and transportation as well as wages. (Weekly income to the workers is about $800.) This is more expensive than other farm workers but, H-2A workers are more productive due to there being tied to employers as opposed to being freelancing, going from one farm to another period.  This is an important aspect of large-scale temporary visa worker on forums. They favor large farms which are relatively more adept at driving productivity improvements.

California farmers usually report trouble in finding workers. The relatively very old, 42 years, of the established Mexican workforce reflects not only the absolute decline in authorized Mexican workers but also the lack of interest of their children and others to work in the fields.

There are several ways to reduce dependence on foreign-born workers for produce food for the American table.  A key one is to match vegetables and fruits, plus nuts, with mechanization.  Another way, of course, is to simply import food.A great deal of produce sold in the United States now comes from Mexico such as avocados and blueberries from Peru and South American countries. Since 2016 the majority of blueberries consumed by Americans are imported. There more Mexican produce workers in Mexico for the export market to the United States then produce workers in California.

Beyond the workforce issues of California farmers there is also the acute dependence by small dairy farmers throughout the country on unauthorized workers. That is for another posting.

 

(Sources of content mainly prior posts and an April 2024 report by Philip Martin of UC Davis, who has studied California farming for years).

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