An Agribusiness Perspective on Farm Labor & Immigration
Migrant workers harvest corn on Uesugi Farms in Gilroy, California (2013). U.S. Department of Agriculture At Food Politics, Marion Nestle shares an interview with Tom Nassif , the CEO of the Western Growers. �Nassif represents this trade association for industrial agricultural producers in the West and Southwest. He discusses how immigration issues affect farm labor from the perspective of producers.� The entire interview is worth reading, but I want to highlight the following two questions and answers, commenting�by way of the work of Frank Bardacke�on the second one below: 1. Some people say farmers just have to pay more for their labor . �Anyone who is an enlightened observer of immigration reform and agriculture knows that�s not true. Wages have continually gone up. And the supply of labor keeps diminishing. � It�s not the wages, it�s the work. This is a difficult job. This is seasonal. This is migratory. This is not full time. This requires people to be away from their families