In rural Maine, farmers worry migrant workers will be too afraid to show up for work and crops will rot in the fields

Blueberries burst forth during Maine's early summer,
but they need to be harvested quickly. (Adobe Stock photo)

As the Trump administration steps up its immigration and deportation efforts, Maine farmers who rely on immigrant labor to harvest seasonal crops such as wild blueberries are concerned about labor shortages. Some farmers worry that no matter how legal their past immigrant employees may be, fears about deportation will keep them from "showing up to rake [blueberry] fields — out in plain sight," reports Joyce Kryszak of The Maine Monitor. Without immigrant workers, Maine farmers say they can't bring in all their fields within the short window to harvest before crops begin to rot.

Harry Ricker and his wife, Nancy, own Ricker Hill Orchards in the small town of Turner, Maine. Each year the couple pays to participate in the H-2A visa program to employ "dozens of hard-working apple pickers each harvest season, mostly from Jamaica," Kryszak writes. They don't think they can hire enough non-immigrants to complete their apple harvest. Harry Ricker told Kryszak, "There are a lot less local people that want to do it, so we have to have [the H-2A] program. Without it, we’ll just be out of the industry. We go away.”

Meanwhile, state officials are working to help Maine businesses stay on top of visa program requirements and changes. "Patrick Woodcock, the executive director of the Maine Chamber of Commerce, told Kryszak, "Regardless of the merits of the polic[ies], we really do want to ensure that employers understand how to be in compliance. There may be employees that were authorized to work that may be affected by changes and may not be authorized to work now or in the coming months.”

Local apple and blueberry farmers aren't the only ones worried. "Agricultural farmers of all types . . . and fisheries. . . have come to rely on the largely Latino migrant and year-round immigrant communities," Kryszak reports. "A 2015 Maine Department of Labor . . . survey, the most recent report available from the Department, found that 56% of migrant farm workers were from Mexico, with others from Haiti, Canada, Honduras, El Salvador, and the Philippines."

In new trade deal, China keeps tariffs on U.S. farm goods but promises to buy more over next two years

Chinese and U.S. officials signed the first phase of several planned trade resolutions Wednesday at the White House. The agreement has more than 50 agriculture-related commitments, including a faster approval process for biotech crops and tariff exclusions for many U.S. commodities.

"The pledged changes will remove obstacles for U.S. ag exports from beef, pork, poultry and seafood to avocados, blueberries, pet food and hay," Ryan McCrimmon of Politico's Morning Agriculture reports. "China won’t lift any of its retaliatory duties on American farm goods, which total $110 billion, but the new tariff exclusions will facilitate an uptick in agricultural purchases from U.S. producers."

China promised to buy about $40 billion in U.S. farm products this year and next year, contingent on market conditions. "Beijing had balked at committing to buy set amounts of U.S. farm goods earlier, and has inked new soybean contracts with Brazil since the trade war started," Ryan Woo and Jeff Mason report for Reuters. "Although the deal could be a boost to U.S. farmers, automakers and heavy equipment manufacturers, some analysts question China’s ability to replace imports from other trading partners with more shipments from the United States."

Another possible issue: if China reneges on its promises, the deal allows the U.S. to again put tariffs on Chinese goods. "But according to the text, if the offending party disagrees with such a result, its only recourse is to quit the agreement. There are no provisions for appeal or levying retaliatory tariffs," David Lawder reports for Reuters. "Trump administration officials insist that they have set up a robust process for resolving disputes, with each country opening an enforcement office to field and review complaints about compliance. Those grievances will be aired through a series of consultations with escalating levels of officials over a roughly 90-day period before penalties can be levied."

Studies suggest USDA overpaying some soybean farmers; other growers complain their crops are undervalued

Soybean harvest (UPI photo)

Faulty government estimates of the trade war's impact may have caused soybean growers to get more bailout money than the the trade war with China has actually cost them in sales; meanwhile, other growers may not be getting enough trade aid, Mike Dorning reports for Bloomberg.

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s calculations overshot the impact of the trade conflict on American soybean prices, according to six academic studies, a conclusion that is likely to add to criticism that the bailout has generated distortions and inequalities in the farm economy," Dorning writes. "The method the department used to calculate trade losses also likely overstates the conflict’s financial impact on most other farm products, though for a few commodities it may understate the true impact."

Overpayment doesn't necessarily mean a windfall for soybean farmers, since they're dealing with other financial pressures such as bad weather and global oversupply, Dorning reports: "Also, the trade conflict risks long-term loss of market share for U.S. producers as overseas customers build relationships with replacement suppliers. Neither the academic nor the USDA estimates take potential future market losses into account."

Wild blueberries in Maine's fall foliage
(University of Main Extension photo)

Blueberry farmers in Maine say the USDA is underpaying them for damages caused by the trade war. Blueberries were included in a separate, much smaller trade-relief program, Ryan McCrimmon reports for Politico's Morning Agriculture. In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, independent Sen. Angus King of Maine wrote that the trade war will lead to a 96.75% decrease in the value of the state's wild-blueberry exports to China since 2017.

Net farm income is predicted to increase about 10 percent over last year, but that's mostly because of bailout payments, which are expected to total $22.4 billion—about a quarter of all farm income, according to the USDA's latest Farm Income Forecast. "Almost 40% of projected U.S. farm profits this year will come from trade aid, disaster assistance, federal subsidies and insurance payments," Dorning reports.

Blueberries blooming and booming; California gets on the bandwagon

We're big fans of blueberries here at The Rural Blog — for their taste, their nutritional value and their economic potential for rural areas. And across the nation, more farmers are turning to this profitable produce.

Last year, American farms grew 80 percent more berries than in 2004, the Los Angeles Times reports. That jump came from a 19 percent jump in total acres planted over the past two years, and it helped bring in $498 million in total sales in 2006. California, the nation's largest agricultural state, is joining the bandwagon, producing a record $33 million in sales last year, writes Jerry Hirsch. California farmers enjoy an earlier harvest than producers in the Midwest and Northeast, so they can reap more profits.

Kathy Hoy, a nutritionist at the Produce for Better Health Foundation in Wilmington, Del., called blueberries a "superfood" that may help prevent heart and urinary tract diseases and stop memory loss. There's not clearcut evidence that says blueberries definitely can do all that, but farmers are realizing the crop is worth trying. (Read more)