Ag labor has been a significant concern for farmers for decades. Some industry leaders say that if foreign-born workers are deported, it will be hard to find replacements.
According to the National Council of Farmers Cooperatives (NCFC), President and CEO Chuck Conner says, there is only one other option.
“The alternative, you know, to growing it here in America -- having handled, processed, and harvested with foreign-born workers -- is that we simply move that production,” Conner explained. “Down to where those foreign-born workers may have probably come from, originally anyway, out of this country.”
However, Connor said that would impact food quality in America in a dramatic way.
“If you surveyed most consumers, they may not understand -- but if you asked them, ‘Would you rather [your food] be produced here in the United States?’ They would say, ‘Heck yes.’” Connor said. “And I think food safety is one of the key reasons they would say, ‘heck yes,’ and it’s not just a nationalism kind of thing. They believe U.S. products would be better and safer.”
Connor added, there’s a growing demand among consumers for more information about where their food comes from – and, he said, that’s a good thing.
For communities that depend on agriculture as their primary economic engine, the recession is not defined by headlines on Wall Street. It is defined by the quiet disappearance of the businesses that once processed, serviced, and supported the crop.
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