The Agriculture Workforce Coalition represents the diverse needs of agricultural employers across the country and serves as a unified voice to ensure America’s farmers, ranchers and growers have access to a stable and secure workforce. The Lembert Report shares this news:
Some industries and businesses cannot survive without foreign workers, and for labor-intensive agriculture in California, their presence is especially critical. There is another key demographic in America: the 100 percent of people who eat. They require human hands to plant, harvest, pack and deliver fresh fruit, vegetables and tree nuts to their plates every day. Machines have yet to be invented that can pick strawberries or celery, and these and other crops are in danger of rotting in the field without timely harvesting.
For example, according to a 2012 survey by the California Farm Bureau, 71% of tree fruit growers, and nearly 80% of raisin and berry growers, were unable to find an adequate number of employees to prune trees or vines or pick the crop. In 2008, Texas A&M reported that 77% of vegetable farmers reported scaling back operations. More than 80,000 acres of fresh produce that used to be grown in California have been moved to other countries. Without immigration reform, estimates are that thousands of farms could fail and farm income could drop by $5 to $9 billion.
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