As Immigration Crackdown Pushes Farms to the Brink, National Data Proves Agriculture Labor Shortage Is No Myth

“We at Save Family Farming welcome the recent reporting from several national media outlets highlighting the present crisis: there is a very real labor shortage in American agriculture, and the federal immigration crackdown is making it worse. Federal labor data shows that between March and July, the number of people working in U.S. agriculture dropped by roughly 155,000 – about 7 percent of the total workforce.

“Yet, while farms are scrambling to harvest crops and keep food on America’s tables, anti-farm activists have pushed the false claim that “there isn’t a worker shortage.” That claim is not just misleading — it’s an outright lie. The facts, the data, and the lived experience of farm owners and farmworkers tell a different story: there is a shortage, and it is hurting America’s food supply and undermining the very farms that work day after day to feed our communities.

“These activists have spun a false narrative as part of their effort to demonize farms’ last resort for labor: the expensive and highly-regulated federal H-2A guest worker program. And now they’re also working against proposals like the Farm Workforce Modernization Act that could begin to bring relief to farmworkers and farms struggling in the current crackdown.

“The truth is clear: crops are being left in the field, production is suffering, export opportunities are shrinking, and farms across Washington state and across the nation are in crisis. The activists’ agenda may serve their fundraising campaigns, but it does nothing to serve workers or protect America’s food supply.

“Something must be done. We need real solutions to support the workforce agriculture depends on, not more political games from those who are working to see family farms fail. Protecting farmworkers and protecting food security go hand-in-hand. To those spreading false claims that there is no farm labor shortage, we say this: the facts don’t lie! Denying the crisis doesn’t make it go away — it only makes it worse. We urge support for reforms to our immigration system and for policies, both federally and statewide, that protect farmworkers and their families here in Washington State.”