New report: Industry would be crippled by immigration reform measure
New report: Industry would be crippled by immigration reform measure
WASHINGTON -- Expect production losses in fruits and vegetables of between $5 billion and $9 billion annually if enforcement-only bills like the House-passed immigration reform bill becomes law, says a new study by the American Farm Bureau Federation.
On Dec. 16, the House of Representatives passed the controversial Border Protection, Antiterrorism & Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, leaving the agriculture industry scrambling to beat back the measure in the Senate. At issue are provisions that would make it a felony to be in the United States illegally and slap huge penalties on employers who hire undocumented workers. The bill would require a stringent system for employers to verify the immigration status of all their employees through the use of a government database.
Opponents of the bill, sponsored by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), say that it fails to allow illegal immigrants to apply for amnesty, create a viable guest worker program and establish a stable workforce for agriculture.
"The fruit and vegetable sector as it now exists would disappear," warned the farm bureau's report, which was discussed at its annual meeting earlier this month. From one-quarter to one-third of operators in the sector -- which is especially dependent on hired labor -- could go out of business.
"Instead of stocking produce grown and harvested in the United States, America's grocers would increasingly fill their shelves with foreign-grown produce. That will be billions of dollars currently kept in the U.S. that now will be sent overseas," said the farm group's new analyses of government statistics.
If federal legislation immediately deprives agriculture of a large share of its workforce, producers would have to fill job vacancies by bidding against other employers suffering the same fate. The current average hourly wage of $9.75 for farm workers would have to increase to $11 an hour and more likely the $14.50 an hour paid for cleaning and construction labor, said the report.
This comes as consumer demand for fresh fruits and vegetables has grown, gas prices are at record levels and the industry is stretched to the limit in finding a technological solution to hand harvesting.
Tightening border security is already affecting this season's harvest, said Kathy Means of the Produce Marketing Association. "We are hoping for a solution that works for agriculture."
Western Growers Association said that it is hearing of an estimated 30 percent shortage in filling some 60,000 farm labor jobs in Imperial and Yuma counties, compared to previous years.
That number would be higher if the industry was not experiencing a soft lettuce market, said Tim Chelling, a spokesman for the association.
"It's tough to get numbers, though," Mr. Chelling said. Arizona State University is trying to do just that by asking growers to document their hiring experiences from November 2005 until March 2006 to get a better picture on the economic cost of labor shortages.
This information could inform policymakers as they debate immigration reform.
Western Growers has been appealing for a temporary program that would provide an experienced workforce to assist with the harvests this fall and winter. "If we had a guest worker program, it would at least fix things in the medium term to a great extent," Mr. Chelling said.
The association supports legislation such as the AgJOBS bill, which would allow workers with a significant work history in American agriculture to stay here legally and earn adjustment to legal status. It would also overhaul the H-2A legal guest worker program.
Without any fix, U.S. fruit and vegetable producers will be devastated, cautioned the American Farm Bureau Federation. "If federal legislation is enacted that fails to take into account the unique needs of agriculture -- which include our increasing dependence on hired labor, our extreme vulnerability to competitively priced foreign-grown produce and our inability to either absorb cost increases or pass those on -- we will all watch as Congress takes literally billions of dollars out of the pockets of farmers and sends it to our competitors overseas," said the new report.
On Dec. 16, the House of Representatives passed the controversial Border Protection, Antiterrorism & Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, leaving the agriculture industry scrambling to beat back the measure in the Senate. At issue are provisions that would make it a felony to be in the United States illegally and slap huge penalties on employers who hire undocumented workers. The bill would require a stringent system for employers to verify the immigration status of all their employees through the use of a government database.
Opponents of the bill, sponsored by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), say that it fails to allow illegal immigrants to apply for amnesty, create a viable guest worker program and establish a stable workforce for agriculture.
"The fruit and vegetable sector as it now exists would disappear," warned the farm bureau's report, which was discussed at its annual meeting earlier this month. From one-quarter to one-third of operators in the sector -- which is especially dependent on hired labor -- could go out of business.
"Instead of stocking produce grown and harvested in the United States, America's grocers would increasingly fill their shelves with foreign-grown produce. That will be billions of dollars currently kept in the U.S. that now will be sent overseas," said the farm group's new analyses of government statistics.
If federal legislation immediately deprives agriculture of a large share of its workforce, producers would have to fill job vacancies by bidding against other employers suffering the same fate. The current average hourly wage of $9.75 for farm workers would have to increase to $11 an hour and more likely the $14.50 an hour paid for cleaning and construction labor, said the report.
This comes as consumer demand for fresh fruits and vegetables has grown, gas prices are at record levels and the industry is stretched to the limit in finding a technological solution to hand harvesting.
Tightening border security is already affecting this season's harvest, said Kathy Means of the Produce Marketing Association. "We are hoping for a solution that works for agriculture."
Western Growers Association said that it is hearing of an estimated 30 percent shortage in filling some 60,000 farm labor jobs in Imperial and Yuma counties, compared to previous years.
That number would be higher if the industry was not experiencing a soft lettuce market, said Tim Chelling, a spokesman for the association.
"It's tough to get numbers, though," Mr. Chelling said. Arizona State University is trying to do just that by asking growers to document their hiring experiences from November 2005 until March 2006 to get a better picture on the economic cost of labor shortages.
This information could inform policymakers as they debate immigration reform.
Western Growers has been appealing for a temporary program that would provide an experienced workforce to assist with the harvests this fall and winter. "If we had a guest worker program, it would at least fix things in the medium term to a great extent," Mr. Chelling said.
The association supports legislation such as the AgJOBS bill, which would allow workers with a significant work history in American agriculture to stay here legally and earn adjustment to legal status. It would also overhaul the H-2A legal guest worker program.
Without any fix, U.S. fruit and vegetable producers will be devastated, cautioned the American Farm Bureau Federation. "If federal legislation is enacted that fails to take into account the unique needs of agriculture -- which include our increasing dependence on hired labor, our extreme vulnerability to competitively priced foreign-grown produce and our inability to either absorb cost increases or pass those on -- we will all watch as Congress takes literally billions of dollars out of the pockets of farmers and sends it to our competitors overseas," said the new report.
