Rick Shade is a fifth-generation Santa Barbara, CA avocado farmer. He, and his family before him, grow citrus and avocados. Harvesting avocados is a job that requires skill and experience. After searching through leaves and branches, Shade told local news, “This fruit here it’s in the sweet spot,” holding up an avocado. “A tinge of color on the peel,” he explained.

Seeing another avocado Shade said, “Now this one,” he said, “even though it has a little black on the peel, is not going to make the size that’s in the sweet spot for us. And it takes someone who has been at it for a long time to tell the difference.”

That is the problem, Shade has not been able to find skilled harvesters to help him during this year’s peak avocado season. Shade requires 50 harvesters during the peak season. Right now he has 25 and has struggled to find more. Shade explains, “Many of the harvesters I remember from when I was just a teenager – they’re still harvesting.”

The Trump administration’s crackdown along the United States Mexico border has greatly diminished Shade, and other farmer’s, ability to find the workers they need.  The Department of Labor estimates that about half of farm workers in the US are undocumented immigrants. Some farmers use the H-2A guest worker program to work seasonally, and legally, in the United States.

The guest visa program is very difficult and expensive to navigate. Farmers often have to hire lawyers to help workers get through the process. Of the workers who manage to make it through the process, many arrive late in the season because of administrative delays. 72% of growers say that their workers arrived late due to the delays.

Shade also described another problem with the H-2A visa program. He explained, “The H-2A is a difficult process, especially living in this beautiful spot in Southern California,” Shade said, citing the state’s high land values and tough regulations regarding housing. “When you bring in an H-2A employee or employees, you have to provide housing that is up to government specifications. If I were to hit the Lotto … I might be able to purchase an old run down motel and convert it. But that’s the order of magnitude we’re talking about for labor and it’s just not feasible.”

Some farmers are trying to address the problem using mechanized labor, machines, and robots. Daniel Sumner is the director at the University of California Agricultural Issues Center at UC Davis. Sumner warned, “The crops that are most affected are the ones that use hired labor.” He continued,  “It’s really now through the rest of the summer that we’re going to hear more and more farmers and farm workers rushing to get a harvest in with really not enough labor force to do it. And that’s a real challenge. It may mean that we have crops rotting in the fields.”

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