By Dante Galeazzi, President & CEO, Texas International Produce Association

Did you know that most of the fruits and vegetables you eat were harvested not by a tractor or an AI robot, but by the hands of a person?

In 2010, a study found that 70% of vegetables and 55% of fruits were picked by hand instead of mechanically ¹. While the technology for automated harvesting continues to advance, the fruit and vegetable industry still remains a labor-intensive endeavor. 

With roughly 4.4 million acres of fruit and vegetable production in the United States ^{2 3}, there is a need for many human hands to plant, tend, harvest, clean, sort, package, and ship fresh produce. In fact, the American Farm Bureau estimates that U.S. farmers need roughly 2 million laborers every year to bring in those crops ⁴. Finding those 2 million workers while also producing a fruit or vegetable that is environmentally and economically sustainable is a very hard mix… especially in the United States.

Americans hopefully realize this country has a long history of American citizens choosing NOT to work in agriculture. Least of all working in the labor-intensive fields of fruits and vegetables. An article from 1964 covered students from high-schools quitting these jobs within two weeks ⁵. More recently, an article from 2010 discussed ex-convicts in Georgia quitting within the first week ⁶. Sadly, the internet is full of similar stories, with many ending the way the situation started – without employees to address the shortage. 

The fact is history has consistently shown that Americans will not take these jobs. With no domestic employee options and a vast majority of the fruit and vegetable crops lacking mechanical harvesting options, U.S. farmers frankly have little choice but to turn to foreign citizens to bring in these crops. 

Creating government programs to bring in foreign citizens for seasonal jobs has long been a challenge for this country. The U.S. has attempted with various programs since 1917, when the first “Braceros” program was created in cooperation with Mexico to bring in seasonal labor for agriculture and the railroads ⁷. Since then, multiple “guest worker” programs have come and gone. Today’s system is the H-2A Temporary Agriculture Visa Program ⁸.

The H-2A program requires that employers pay for international travel to and from the United States. It also mandates that housing, daily travel, and all the daily meals be paid for in addition to an hourly wage established by the Department of Labor. 

These are all good aspects of a program. These guidelines create what should be an ideal environment for foreign citizens to want to do the work, receive fair compensation, be comfortable and well cared for during their rest-time, and at the conclusions of the season to return to their home country.Unfortunately, the program is far from perfect, largely due to the haphazard process through which Congress, the Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and special interest groups have approached “fixes.” 

The application process is so technical that most participants use third-party specialists – often lawyers - to file the applications in order to avoid fines or repercussions. Many of the daily operations for overseeing the H2A employees requires trained personnel to o maintain compliance with federal standards. Equipment, housing, and paperwork regulations are far more intricate and far-reaching that standards for domestic workforces. And the hourly pay rates can exceed what the domestic workers are paid, which creates challenges, but the rate also increases every year by an unknown factor (sometimes as little as 8%, sometimes as much as 20%) which makes forecasting labor costs, and therefore the fruit and vegetable’s sale costs, incredibly difficult. 

At the heart of all of this is essentially immigration. Balancing the need with security, while facing the polarization and politics that comes with this topic.

Immigration policy today is lagging and is, more often than not, holding both immigrants and businesses back from reaching their full potential. Even the federal agencies know this. A June 2023 report from the U.S. Department of Labor showed 9.6 million job openings with roughly 5.9 million American’s out of work. Where are we going to find the other 4 million workers if not from immigrants? Let alone the 2 million needed for seasonal agricultural jobs?

Agriculture needs action. The data continues to show American’s are moving away from agriculture. The United States Congress and the government cannot figure out how to solve the country’s labor needs using immigration despite millions of foreign workers literally lined up at our borders, beginning for the opportunity to work.  

Without action, our essential industries like agriculture will continue to suffer. They will close their doors, they will consolidate, or they will simply relocate their operations to where a workforce is readily, regularly, and legally available. 

Thankfully, there are opportunities for action. 

Bipartisan legislation like the Dignity Act, Farm Workforce Modernization Act, Dream Act, and HIRE act are all a step in the right direction. Any of these legislations could enhance the nation’s immigration system, bringing the needed workers to agriculture and other industries, improving economic productivity, while changing millions of lives for the better.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans are dissatisfied with the level of immigration, according to a 2022 Gallup poll. Americans clearly want a change. 

It’s time for America – especially Congress - to quit saying no and start saying yes to immigration. Say yes to fixing a century olds issue. Say yes to building a stronger economy. Say yes to the solving the problems that will benefit farmers, consumers, immigrants, the economy, our country, and our world. 

1. Huffman, Wallace. “The Status of Labor-saving Mechanization in U.S. Fruit and Vegetable Harvesting.”  https://www.choicesmagazine.org/choices-magazine/theme-articles/immigration-and-agriculture/the-status-of-labor-saving-mechanization-in-us-fruit-and-vegetable-harvesting#:~:text=Calvin%20and%20Martin%20(2010)%20report,likely%20mechanically%20harvested%20than%20fresh[↵]
2. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), “Vegetables 2022 Summary: February 2023.” https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/02870v86p/hq37x121v/4b29ck28c/vegean23.pdf. Accessed October 11, 2023.[↵]
3.  Statista, “Fruit industry in the U.S. – statistics & facts.” https://www.statista.com/topics/1621/fruit-production/#:~:text=Fruit%20production%20in%20the%20U.S.,635%20thousand%20acres%20in%202022. Accessed October 11, 2023[↵]
4.  American Farm Bureau, “Agriculture Labor Reform.” https://www.fb.org/issue/labor/agriculture-labor-reform#:~:text=Agriculture%20needs%20anywhere%20from%201.5,variable%20costs%20for%20fresh%20vegetables. Accessed October 11, 2023[↵]
5.  Arellano, Gustavo. “When The U.S. Government Tried to Replace Migrant Farmworkers with High Schoolers.” August 23, 2018. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/07/31/634442195/when-the-u-s-government-tried-to-replace-migrant-farmworkers-with-high-schoolers. Accessed October 11, 2023.[↵]
6.  Bonner, Jennifer. “Some Ex-Cons Spurn Farm Work.” June 22, 2011. https://www.gpb.org/news/2011/06/22/some-ex-cons-spurn-farm-work. Accessed October 11, 2023.[↵]
7.  Martin, Philip. “Mexican Braceros and US Farm Workers.” July 10, 2020. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/mexican-braceros-and-us-farm-workers#:~:text=The%20Bracero%20program%20refers%20to,after%20WWI%20and%20WWII%20ended. Accessed October 11, 2023.[↵]

8.  U.S. Department of Labor, “H-2A Temporary Agricultural Program.” https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/foreign-labor/programs/h-2a. Accessed October 11, 2023. [↵]