Import Labor or Food?

Commentary and news analysis
For immediate release
Contact: Jay M. Matteson
Phone (315) 782-1806

Date: Monday, August 04, 2008

Will the United States Become Dependent on Foreign Food?
Should we import our labor, or import our food?

By Jay M. Matteson,
Jefferson County Agricultural Coordinator

The Issue:

Immediate reform to immigration laws and regulations is necessary in order to avoid the United States becoming dependent on food produced in foreign countries. Increasingly, more of our food supply is imported from countries that do not have the health and environmental safety standards that are required of farmers in the U.S. Examples of this threat are in the news everyday. The recent Salmonella crisis is traced to Jalapeno peppers from Mexico. Hundreds of American citizens are stricken from the contaminated produce. As American farms cannot find a dependable workforce from within our own citizens, and the risks grow from hiring migrant labor, farms are either closing their doors or evaluating whether to take further risk by increasing growth when a workforce is not available. This year, Jim Bittner, a farmer from Niagara County, was featured on the front page of the New York Times ripping out his cherry trees. Why? When asked, he indicated that the uncertainty surrounding the availability of labor, both for pruning and harvesting, were the cause of his action. Local farmers in Jefferson County indicate a reluctance to grow to meet the milk demands of the Great Lakes Cheese Inc. plant expansion because they don’t know where they’ll get help from.

An estimated 300 to 400 migrant people, mostly of Hispanic backgrounds, are employed by farms in Jefferson County. These people come here to work usually for a three to five year period. During that time they provide a dependable workforce, requesting to work longer hours, so they may send money home to support their families and improve their children’s lives. Once they have accomplished their goal, they return home to a better life. They are willing to do the work Americans won’t do, milk cows, tend to the herd, feed calves, and help in the fields. They are provided housing, utilities are paid by the farm, Hispanic satellite or cable tv channels are provided, and workers health care is provided by the farm. They are paid competitive wages. The average salary of a farm employee in 2007, according to the 2007 Northern New York Dairy Farm Business Summary from Cornell University, in Jefferson County was $11.32 per hour including benefits ($31,252 annually). The farms do pay social security and other taxes on their Hispanic labor. The Hispanic workers communicate with friends and relatives at other farms, informing others of better pay and benefits offered by various farms, making farms provide competitive packages. Unfortunately, many of these people are here illegally because there is not a realistic, functional way for them to enter the U.S. for employment. Good people, needed by our industries, are forced to come illegally because of a broke system and a government unwilling to act.

Local Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency officers are increasing their presence in Jefferson County. Farms have reported their employees being targeted at local stores, enforcement agencies patrolling by their farms looking for Hispanic people walking or riding bikes on the side of the road. The migrant workers are forced to lay low, not leave the farm, even when here legally, because of the fear of harassment by law agencies. They become slaves, not because of poor employment practices or poor pay of the farm, but because of fear among members of Congress to do what’s necessary to protect the food supply of the United States.

Action Necessary:

The Emergency Agriculture Relief Act must be reintroduced and enacted immediately. This legislation would have granted temporary, limited immigration status for experienced farm workers who would then be required to continue to work in our agricultural industry for the next five years. It would also fix the H-2A program, which many farmers in NY rely on to legally bring in temporary workers during the harvest season. H-2A would have been streamlined to allow an employer to more quickly obtain government approval. This was a good sensible way to help alleviate the labor crisis on our farms.

The Jefferson County Board of Legislators, recognizing the labor crisis facing our farms, passed resolution 186 of the year 2008, calling upon Congress to address this problem. The Board of Legislators called upon the Congress of the United States of America to consider and enact the Emergency Agriculture Relief Act of 2008.

Economic Impact:

In Jefferson County, there is, on average, one farm employee for every 40 cows on a dairy farm. As a farm loses an employee that cannot be replaced or chooses not to expand because of the lack of a good labor force, 40 cows may not be replaced or added to the farm.

On average, there are 40 cows for every one employee on a farm.

Our farms pay an average of $52 per cow, according to the Dairy Farm Business Summary from Cornell University, in property and school taxes. 40 cows equal over $2,000 in taxes to the community.

According to the Pennsylvania Center for Dairy Excellence, every dairy cow is worth $13,737 in total economic impact to the community. 40 cows are worth $549,000 to our local economy per year.

Every time an employee is removed from the farm or the farm chooses not to expand for fear of having to hire possible illegal people, we may lose $2,000 in tax base and $549,000 in economic stimulus.

Should we import our labor, or import our food?