ARIZONA, USA — Countries restricting their borders may have a large impact on the U.S. food supply in the coming months, the Arizona Farm Bureau stated.
The farm bureau president, Stefanie Smallhouse, noted that farmers can’t control national policy decisions, such as border closings, which may affect the supply chain at large.
“We already have a labor shortage in agriculture, and this will exacerbate that shortage,” Smallhouse said in a press release on Wednesday.
One example she gave was Mexico restricting the movement of legal workers. She stated that this may have a large impact on the US supply of vegetables.
Yuma County in Arizona and Imperial County in California supply around 85% of the US supply of leafy greens and vegetables. Those fields usually need 40,000 to 50,000 workers tending to them. Since around 15,000 of those workers will no longer be able to cross into those counties from San Luis, Mexico, these numbers may not be met.
“The limiting cancellation of routine immigration services will undoubtedly have an impact on the availability of fresh produce,” Smallhouse said. “. If we can't get produce out of the field, then we can't restock the grocer's bins or your plate.”
While these closings may not bode well for the nation, Smallhouse also stated that Arizona farmers have ample supplies in frozen storage facilities around the state. Additionally, the shipment of raw agricultural products to stores and food processors hasn’t been affected.
The farm bureau president does hope for a speedy end to the pandemic but also wanted to thank the farmers who are continuing to feed the nation.
“In agriculture, we are our brother's keeper in good times and bad,” Smallhouse said. “We commend the work of all those who continue to toil to make sure our food demands are met.”
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