Executive actions on immigration could affect agriculture industry

IN California, a leading producer of fruits, vegetables and nuts, many farmers are already fearing a major labor shortage that could be caused by President Obama’s executive actions on immigration planned for 2015.

Thousands of the state’s farmworkers, who make up a significant portion of those who will benefit from the order (which protects up to 5 million immigrants from deportation), may choose to leave the uncertainty of their seasonal jobs in agriculture for more steady, year-round work in construction, housekeeping, or cooking in restaurants.

“This action isn’t going to bring new workers to agriculture,” said Jason Resnick, vice president and general counsel of the powerful trade association Western Growers. “It’s possible that because of this action, agriculture will lose workers without any mechanism to bring in new workers.”

President Obama’s new immigration policy will certainly affect millions, though the details have yet to be worked out. Resnick said the agricultural workforce, however, has long been declining.

Western Growers estimates there is a 15 to 20 percent shortage of farmworkers, which is driving the industry to call for substantial immigration reform from Congress, such as a sound guest worker program.

“Hopefully there will be the opportunity for comprehensive immigration reform,” said Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. “That’s the right thing to do for this country.”

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, California’s 333,000 farmworkers account for the largest share of the 2.1 million laborers nationwide. Texas comes in a distant second, with less than half of California’s farmworkers.

Once Obama’s executive action goes into effect sometime next year, it will expand existing programs to help undocumented immigrants, including the protection of eligible parents of legal US residents from deportation.

Manuel Cunha, president of the Fresno-based Nisei Farmers League, estimates that 85 percent of California’s agricultural workers are using false documents to obtain work.
Cunha, an advisor on immigration policy to the White House, figures that 50,000 of the state’s farmworkers who may benefit from the president’s executive action could leave the fields and packing houses in California’s $46.4 billion agricultural industry.

“How do I replace that?” he said. “I think we’re going to have a problem.”

In California, many farmworkers are paid above minimum wage, earning more hourly than they will in other industries, but Cunha noted that workers who leave will gain year-round jobs and more regular paychecks, rather than seasonal employment.

While farmers in the industry may face a setback, Obama’s executive order is good for laborers supporting their families and fear that any day they may be stopped by immigration officials and deported, said Armando Elenes, national vice president of the United Farm Workers.

In addition, newfound employment mobility set by the order will create competition for farmworkers and potentially increase wages.

“It’s going to open up a whole new world for workers,” Elenes added. “A lot of times if you’re undocumented, you feel like you’re stuck.”

Ed Kissam, an immigration researcher at the immigrant advocacy group, WKF Giving Fund, said that he doubts a significant number of farmworkers will leave the industry. “Surely some will,” Kissam said. “But it’s not going to be a mass exodus.”

Harold McClarty, a Central Valley producer of HMC Farms, hires a thousand farmworkers at harvest time. He said there is no replacing the human hand for picking the 50 varieties of peaches he grows. His employees pick a single tree five or more times, making sure the fruit they take is ripe.

“We haven’t found any machines that can do anything like that,” he said. “You can’t just pick the whole tree.”

Edward Taylor, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, also said a shortage of farmworkers could be exacerbated by a dwindling flow of workers from Mexico, the largest supplier of labor to the United States. Taylor said that lower birthrates, more industrial jobs and better schools in rural Mexico are cutting into the supply of farmworkers to the US.

“U.S. and Mexican farmers have to compete for that diminishing supply of farm labor,” he said. “Once this change hits, there’s no going back.”

(Allyson Escobar/AJPress  with reports from Associated Press)

(LA Midweek December 31,2014-January 2, 2015 Sec. A pg.1)