Farmers in Georgia and Alabama are reconsidering their crops since tough immigration laws have been enacted in their states.
Last spring and summer farmers faced serious labor shortages after legislators in their state took measures to crackdown on illegal immigration. And they are anticipating that they will face the same issue when it comes time to harvest their crops in the spring and summer.
Most of the people hired to pick crops are immigrants, some who have obtained a temporary visa, aided by an immigration attorney and other who are in the country illegally. In the past migrant workers have just showed up to work on the farms, but the immigration laws have made farmers uncertain if they will have enough workers to harvest the crops and must reconsider their approach.
Some farmers have decided to switch to less labor intensive crops while others plan on scaling back the size of their crops.
Even with high unemployment farmers are facing a labor shortage because they contend that Americans won’t do the same hard work that immigrants will. They have been encouraged to offer higher wages to attract workers, but those costs will eventually get passed down to the consumer through higher prices.
There seems to be no easy solution to the labor shortages faced by farmers. Immigrants who want to work on these crops can get temporary visas through an
immigration lawyer, but it also creates the issue of timing.
