All around the United States, there have been extreme farm labor shortages wreaking the agricultural community and those who benefit from them. In short, since agriculture is the future of everyone’s lives, this issue is not something that we should take lightly. Though many Westmont High School students do not intend on becoming farmers, their lives depend on the very same farmers who put food on their tables. The number of agricultural workers in the United States amounts to around 2.6 million people, with around 66% being noncitizen immigrants (KFF).
In California during 2025, 155,000 farm labor positions went vacant, leaving crops to die and many farms without significant profit (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). Despite the lack of specific data based solely on farmers in the agricultural labor force, overall, 750,000 immigrants have left their agricultural labor jobs since January of 2025 (Chadde). Not only do these numbers significantly impact the farms those immigrants have left from, but also, they affect every single person in America who relies on agricultural products… everyone.
Immigrants have been such an important part of the agricultural field in America for hundreds of years. This theme shows through instances such as the Atlantic Slave Trade, sharecropping, railroad construction during the Mexican American War, and infinitely more times. Essentially, immigrants have successfully benefited our economies and livelihood (NFWM).
While deportations’ effects stretch across more than just the agricultural industry, the effects such deportations have on agriculture stand out. For decades, labor shortages have been impacting the lives of many American farmers, with interest in the field severely declining as well (AGAmerica). Without the help of the immigrants, citizens and noncitizens, the agricultural industry would stand no chance against the combination of a rapidly growing population as well as a steep decline in interest in agriculture.
Brandon Raso, a blueberry farmer in New Jersey recalls, “We lost 2 ⅕ million pounds of blueberries last year…,” accounting for a $5 million loss (WPR). The political state in the United States has America split into very distinct sections. However, numerical losses could never equate to the brutal devastation immigrants face each day in this country.
Undoubtedly, our country needs to realize the significance immigrants hold not just in our country as a whole, but specifically in the agricultural industry. Without immigrants making up a massive chunk of the labor force, nobody is left to care for the quality of every American’s food and health, since many immigrants are being stripped of their homes, families, and careers.