美国：为什么移民关于农业

~~

Why immigration reform matters to agriculture

Without immigration reform, the loss farm workers could ripple through the entire ag-based economy with potentially long-term negative effects

Published on: Aug 31, 2015
 

Immigration reform is a contentious, often emotional, topic for many Americans. But for U.S. agriculture, it’s mainly a labor issue.

In California, for instance, many fruit and vegetable growers who can’t get workers are switching to less labor-intensive row crops, says Kristi Boswell, director of congressional relations for American Farm Bureau Federation. As a result of labor shortages, farmers no longer grow more than 80,000 acres of fresh produce. Instead, that production has moved to other countries.

The issue also impacts the feed market. Dairies and other livestock operators who can’t hire workers are no longer in the market for feedstuffs or are dumping feed, formerly used to maintain their livestock, onto the market.

Workers at a Yuma, AZ farm pick fresh vegetables that will be shipped and consumed across the country.
Workers at a Yuma, AZ farm pick fresh vegetables that will be shipped and consumed across the country.

A 2012 Texas A&M study found that dairy farms using migrant labor supply more than three-fifths of the milk in the country. Without these employees, the study predicts economic output would decline by $22 billion and 133,000 workers would lose their jobs.

Each farm worker—whether native-born or immigrant— supports between two and three full-time jobs in food processing, transportation, farm equipment and marketing retail.

Two approaches

Immigration reform must take two approaches, says Boswell. First, protect current workers, since many farms are already employing experienced workers they want to keep. AFBF is among the groups advocating for an earned adjustment of status to allow those experienced immigrant workers to remain. That change would likely include an incentive for workers to stay in agriculture for a predetermined period. But it's not necessarily a pathway to citizenship.

Second, the government must reinvent the agricultural guest worker program. “To work for agriculture, the guest worker program must be a cost-effective, market-based system,” says Boswell. Currently, the guest worker program supplies just 4% of the needed agricultural workforce. Without a legal way for workers to enter the country, many cross the border illegally to fill the open jobs.

“At the end of the day, farmers want a legal, affordable, reliable workforce,” says Ryan Findlay, industry relations lead for Syngenta. “The quicker the better. Agriculture needs this now.”

 If Congress does not act soon, "We are at the point where we will import labor or food,” Boswell says, pointing to an AFBF study that shows only enforcing the borders— without immigration reform—will cost $30 billion to $60 billion in agricultural production and increase food prices by 5 to 6%.

She encourages all Ag professionals to call legislators and ask for immigration reform.

“Allowing legislators to ignore it because of political pressure is not acceptable,” she says. “We need to make immigration laws work the way they were intended. Doing nothing—or just enforcement—is not an option for agriculture any longer.”