Top Stories - Posted by Pat Bailey-UC Davis on Thursday, June 9, 2011 10:56 - 4 Comments 
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Labor costs to grow on Calif. farms
Analysts predict California farmers will respond to immigration reform and higher labor costs by increasing mechanization and introducing harvesting aids to boost laborers' productivity, such as in-field conveyor belts to speed strawberry harvest. (Credit: iStockphoto)
UC DAVIS (US) — Stricter immigration enforcement could send labor costs soaring for California’s fresh fruit, nut, and vegetable farms—a $20 billion industry.
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The text of this article by Futurity is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License.
A new report by agricultural economists at the University of California, Davis, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture says the change could result in more imports of fresh produce to the United States. Their findings appear in the current issue of the ARE Update.
“California’s produce industry depends on a constant influx of new, foreign-born laborers, and more than half of those are unauthorized laborers, primarily from Mexico,” says Phillip Martin, a professor of agricultural and resource economics.
“The cost of hiring these laborers will likely rise as the U.S. government ramps up enforcement of immigration laws by installing more physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border and requiring more audits of workers’ I-9 employment verification forms,” Martin says.
He notes that such audits often cause workers to quit their jobs rather than clear up discrepancies in their documents. As a result, some farm employers already are making plans to hire higher-paid, legal guest workers, who must be provided with government-approved housing.
He projects that immigration reform could result in legalization of currently unauthorized farm workers, again encouraging farm employers to turn to the higher paid guest workers to tend and harvest their crops.
If labor costs do rise, Martin suggests that three major adjustments could occur: mechanization to reduce the need for hand labor, an increase in produce imports if rising costs make U.S. produce less competitive, and introduction of more harvesting aids to increase the efficiency of laborers.
For example, there could be wider use of mechanized harvesting for raisin-grapes, a shift to more imports in the asparagus industry, and the use of harvesting aids—such as in-field conveyor belts—to speed strawberry harvest.
Martin’s study, conducted with Linda Calvin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, was supported by USDA and the University of California Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics.
More news from UC Davis: www.news.ucdavis.edu
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4 Comments
Abbie Kendall
We have known for generations that migrant workers were underpaid and given inferior housing. The only difference now is that many of the ‘migrants’ are from Mexico. The use of strict enforcement of the law and heavy fines for those exploiting these people will reduce the rate of illegal immigration and increase mechanization. I would expect unemployment would decrease in the summer, although I must admit the work is brutal.
Tom
I will gladly pay the extra cost to eliminate the deplorable current situation- for both the migrants and the U.S taxpayer. Extra costs will lead to greater automation. Nothing wrong with a guest worker program-emphasis on the “GUEST”.
Rick Tatum
I, for one, am sick to death hearing about high labor costs. Where does anyone think the consumer index comes from – people who make a living wage spending their money on goods and services they buy through american companies. If the people who labor are paid less than a living wage then they cannot spend money on what american companies are selling and the economy goes down. Why is it that we think that the american companies have to profit and then send that profit overseas to revive our economy? It means that the profit is not available here to stimulate the economy. If we are never going to revitalize the american worker then we are never going to revitalize the american economy. Surely I cannot be the only person who has thought of this.
In Oregon, and likely most other agricultural states, American kids used to pick the crops during summer vacation. No housing or special costs other than using buses to pick us up and drop us off at the end of the day. Farmers got their crops in, we got money. Worked well.