I’ve been working in agriculture full-time for a decade. In that time, I’ve come to understand some things about agriculture as an industry that the general public does not: one of them being the connection between immigration and food production. Since immigration is such a hot topic right now, I thought I’d share my perspective in a wholly non-partisan way. (Believe me, as a business owner in a small town, the last thing I’d ever want to do is alienate someone based on their political beliefs.) This blog post is based entirely on facts and on my personal experiences as a farm worker.
If you are an American and you’ve eaten a meal today, the chances are very high that an immigrant was involved in some step of the process of producing the food that went into it. According to the USDA Economic Research Service, 68% of America’s farm workers are immigrants, with 42% being undocumented. In the agriculture adjacent industry of meatpacking, over half of frontline workers are immigrants (per this Center for Economic & Policy Research report). Early in my career when I lived in Vermont, I worked with many Mexican immigrants, and I honestly don’t have anything negative to say about any of them. They were hard workers, they always did what was asked of them (even if I was asking in broken Spanglish), and they always treated me with kindness and respect. Before I entered farming, I had no idea that people from another country were involved in making the milk, butter, and cheese that I’ve always enjoyed.
Since the current administration took office in January, farms across the nation have been bracing for raids by U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), particularly those located along the Mexican and Canadian borders. In California, the state with the highest population of undocumented agricultural workers, farm workers are being targeted and detained (see this United Farm Workers article). Farm owners and managers are being warned that they should take immediate action to prepare their businesses and employees for immigration enforcement. Cornell Cooperative Extension has even published a list of resources for farmers who may be affected by these actions. Some 283,000 of America’s farm workers are undocumented immigrants (according to the Center for Migration Studies).
In theory, if all of these undocumented workers were deported tomorrow, we would be facing a massive labor shortage. In this scenario, one of two things would happen: either we would not find workers to replace them, leaving crops unharvested in the fields and slaughterhouses unable to process the number of animals being brought to market, or we would find American workers to replace them; American workers who are entitled to earning minimum wage, having worker’s compensation coverage, paid overtime, and other benefits. In either case, the cost of food in America would increase drastically. We’d either be faced with another 2020 pandemic situation with empty shelves in the grocery stores, or we’d see food prices skyrocket to new heights, leaving some lower and middle class families unable to afford their groceries.
The immigration system is broken. The existing H-2A visa program that authorizes foreign agricultural workers to enter the United States is so complicated that some employers have to hire attorneys to navigate the bureaucratic red tape. The process takes an average of 75 days to complete. Current regulations require that workers leave the U.S. for a period of two months. This may work for businesses like apple orchards that have a clearly defined harvest season, but it doesn’t make sense for most livestock operations, where animals must be cared for 365 days a year. Due to the shortcomings of the H-2A program, many farms choose to hire undocumented workers. However, with no oversight, these workers are at risk of being maltreated. A survey of Vermont’s dairy farm workers revealed that a majority of undocumented workers did not have access to personal protective equipment or the training necessary to protect themselves from occupational hazards. In fact, 83% of the workers surveyed had experienced harm from a chemical or biological risk factor at work. About a third reported that they did not have any days off, and a quarter reported that they did not receive any breaks during their shifts. Many also reported that they could not access medical care, did not have enough food to eat, or did not have sanitary housing. (This is another reason why we also harp on the importance of knowing the farmers who grow your food, you should be able to get a sense of who their workers are and how they treat them by developing a relationship with them.)
To clarify, our farm does not employ any immigrant workers. In fact, we don’t employ any workers at all, it’s just our family! Farms like ours benefit when the cost of food increases at the grocery store, because our prices appear lower by comparison. Our pricing tends to be consistently higher than average, in part because we operate on a small scale, in part because we employ organic and regenerative practices, and in part because we calculate our pricing based on what it costs to pay ourselves a reasonable wage. We’re not getting rich by any stretch of the imagination, we just pay ourselves enough to maintain our modest lifestyle. Unfortunately, we earn much more than many farms pay their workers. The Economic Policy Institute reports that farm workers are paid an average of 40% less than comparable workers in non-agricultural sectors. Farms that employ undocumented workers are not held to any sort of minimum wage standard, and may deduct the cost of housing and food from their employees’ pay. Effectively, these farms are subsidized by cheap immigrant labor, which is why it is hard for farms like ours to compete when it comes to pricing.
To reiterate, I’m not trying to make any political statements here. I’m just trying to do my part as an advocate for our industry and educate folks, because I don’t think that a lot of people understand the connection between immigrants and our food. For better or for worse, our nation depends on immigration to feed itself. We need to consider the broader impacts of policies before they are implemented, and we need to work towards creating an agricultural labor system that is more fair for all of the parties involved. The H-2A visa program needs to be reformed so that all farmers can access a legal pathway for hiring workers, and the playing field needs to be leveled so that farms of all sizes can succeed.
Well stated.