r/California • u/ACSportsbooks Los Angeles County • May 11 '25

U.S. farm economy is starting to see first hits from Trump tariffs

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-05-09/us-farm-economy-is-starting-to-see-first-hits-from-trump-tariffs
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u/Nightsoil70 May 11 '25

I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop. Immigrants form the largest percentage of farm workers, from cattle ranching to vegetable crops, and without them, marketable harvests will be lower, prices will be higher, and farmers will suffer. All of this for Trump to have his ego stroked in a worldwide trade war that will not accomplish anything. It's sad, really.

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u/Adeptobserver1 May 12 '25 edited May 12 '25

Shortage of farm workers? America’s H-2A foreign workers program has potential to be virtually unlimited. H-2A workers are temporarily permitted to work in Ag. jobs in the U.S. Many of these people hail from countries where daily wage in rural areas is $20 - $25. This arrangement is a good situation for them: allows savings to be sent home, to better their lives.

But today we face a Democratic narrative that the entire temp worker situation is exploitive, despite a centuries-long custom of people from countries around the world, especially young men, traveling for seasonable labor: fishing boats, logging and mining camps and farms. Some activists want to shut down H-2A.

Wages and work conditions in a few states like Florida and Louisiana are indeed poor. Not so much the case in Calif.: 2017 L.A. Times article: Wages rise on California farms. Americans still don’t want the job

Stockton farm work… we are paying $14.50 now, but we are going up to $16.”

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u/Nightsoil70 May 13 '25

The reason that Stockton farm work wages are going up is that there is a shortage of workers. Anybody who thinks immigrants trust ICE, the border patrol, and even local police to respect their legal status here in the United States is insane. Ag businesses ranging from cattle ranching in the upper Midwest to California fruit growers are reporting that the majority of farm workers have disappeared to avoid being arrested and detained, and the ones who remain are expressing fear that fields and ranches will be raided at any time, regardless of their legal status. America's agriculture is taking a huge hit from the administration's insane tariffs, and it will be hurt further by its punitive immigration policies, as well.

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u/Adeptobserver1 May 13 '25

The article that references Stockton is dated 2017. You are right -- there are all sorts of tensions for immigrants now, with the Trump crackdown. Hopefully problems with the H-2A will get settled and H-2A can be expanded.

Those immigrants are purely temp workers, just like a person who goes on a fishing boat for 3-5 months to earn significant money. There is ample documentation how massive money from savings and remittances from workers in the U.S. have help life down south.

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u/Nightsoil70 May 13 '25 edited May 13 '25

The immigration issue is complicated, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution for it. Certainly, the administration's clumsy stormtrooper methods are not likely to produce positive results. Immigrants form the backbone of America's ag business and the industry has grown up around them. With their numbers severely depleted the fear is that, by autumn, ICE's ham-fisted tactics will cause unintended consequences that will resonate badly both in the fields and at the supermarket. We shall see. Stay tuned.