U.S. agriculture dependent on migrant workers

“Driving through the Lower Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas, it is clear that whatever labor is being done on a farm — be it driving a tractor or weeding a field — Latinos are doing it.

This is especially true for labour-intensive crops such as citrus fruits, which require unskilled but physically demanding harvesting under a blazing sky, and the mind-numbing task of sorting produce on a conveyor.

As the United States grapples with the fallout of a failed attempt to overhaul immigration policy and set up a migrant worker program, one thing is clear: U.S. agriculture is utterly dependent on migrant labor.”

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