President-elect Trump has promised he will roll out mass deportations to deal with America’s illegal immigration program, but many worry it could worsen the ag community’s labor issues.
The Washington Policy Center says there are ways to deal with both problems, but it will take serious talks and big action.
“I think one of those things that we can do is to look at how we treat the visa process and how we treat people who contributed to this country. I think there are things in place that offer that, and we just need to figure out how to better navigate those things. Whether that’s recognizing that we have a workforce that exists and does a remarkable thing and often sort of hides in the shadows because of fear of deportation. And how do we acknowledge the longstanding work they’ve done while being cognizant of the fact that they are here without a visa,” said Pam Lewison.
Lewison says at the end of the day, undocumented workers break the law, but she says it is tough, because they also contribute a lot to the ag industry, and there are not many natural-born citizens lining up for farm labor. Labor rates are an area researchers at the Farm Bureau dove into recently. They have seen some big increases across the U.S.
“Field and livestock worker wages were $18.12 nationally, up 3.2% from the 2023 release. However, no one realistically pays the national wage, so regionally there was an average of about a four-and-a-half percent increase in regional wages. There was actually a decrease in the lake region. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, down 2% to $18.15. But then we have places like the southeast, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina with nearly 10% increases,” said Samantha Ayoub.
The National Farmers Union has been watching labor rates closely.
