FRESNO (KMJ) — A Central Valley farmer says restrictions on the number of people coming into the country is having an impact on the amount of workers available for harvest.
“There’s nothing worse for a farmer than being able to grow a crop, bring it to fruition, and then not have anybody show up to pick that crop. We’ve had some of those on a small scale in the past. We had that a few weeks ago when we started harvesting asparagus,” states Joe Del Bosque.
He reveals that he’s never lost a crop due to lack of water before – but may soon do so due to a lack of people.
“A lot of that is tightening of the border – number one; number two – young people leaving to go and study and go into other jobs; and older people aging…they’re retiring.”
The West Side San Joaquin farmer says those in the same line of work should involve themselves and try to improve the situation.
“I think it’s important that we in agriculture get more and more engaged in this thing,” adds Del Bosque. “We need to talk to our workers and get them to understand that things aren’t always they way they hear in the media – whether social media or TV or whatever.
“There aren’t any raids in the fields right now, there are no mass deportations or anything like that. They need to communicate with their people so they can feel at ease and not feel that fear.”
But the concern shared by him and others in the industry is that there will be a shortage of individuals available this year to work the land.
“This summer we’re very fearful…that we may not have enough people to harvest our crops.”
Hear the report from KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew as it aired:
