IFPA: Enforcement actions disrupt farms and threaten produce supply

The Trump administration's workplace Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids have brought unrest to many U.S. industries, and the agricultural sector is one of them.

IFPA, the International Fresh Produce Association, said in a statement addressing the crackdown on behalf of the fresh produce industry, that the enforcement actions targeting agricultural laborers are disruptive to farm operations and the produce supply chain that consumers rely on.

The statement also said the raids are the culmination of decades of inaction from policymakers and a broken labor system, but that they are exacerbating an already fragile labor situation, threatening the long-term viability of U.S. agriculture, and impacting the broader supply chain, from packers and wholesalers to retailers and transportation providers.

The organization also praised President Trump’s acknowledgement of discontent across the farming, hotel, and leisure industries and announcement that changes are coming on his social platform, and offered to collaborate with him on creating a plan to safeguard the food supply and call on Congress to deliver permanent reforms to the country’s farmworker system.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the U.S. workforce has consisted mostly of self-employed farm operators and their family members, and hired workers.

However, farming saw a rapid reduction in self-employed and family labor through the 1990's which led to an increase in hired labor. 

Data shows that the number of self-employed and family farmworkers labor declined from 7.60 million to 2.01 million, a 74% reduction, in 40 years. 

Hired farm labor force is also less likely to be citizens than both workers in other occupations in agriculture and the U.S. wage and salary workforce as a whole.

IFPA also said the organization has been in constant communication with the Trump administration to ensure enforcement actions don't disrupt the fresh produce and floral supply chain and is currently engaging with the Trump administration and lawmakers to protect the agricultural workforce.