U.S. Department of Agriculture graph |
"The reality today in United States modern agriculture is that food consumed by Americans is and will continue to be harvested by foreign hands," vegetable grower Bob Jones told Schladen. "Americans just simply are not interested in working in the field, in the greenhouse, or the packing house."
Jones and other farmers hope the U.S. Senate will pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021. The bill, already passed by the House, would create a "certified agricultural worker" status for qualified foreign workers and allow them to stay in the U.S. for five and a half years. "We are either going to import workers or we're going to import food," Jones said. "The choice is really that simple."
The American consumer has largely acquired a taste for agricultural goods that often need to be imported, Chuck Abbott reported for Successful Farming in February. Those goods include fresh fruits and vegetables that might not be in season in the U.S. Tropical products like coffee and the horticultural products needed to produce wine, beer and distilled spirits are increasingly imported. Farm exports were forecast to hit a record this fiscal year, but the USDA projected a decrease in value in the middle of the coming decade, and a much greater increase in imports.
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