From drought to harvest: Trump's immigration policies threaten the U.S. farming industry

A Los Angeles Times article caught my attention last week with the headline: "In the Central Valley, drought fears ease, but farmers contend with a new threat: Trump." The author of the article, Robin Abcarian, reported from an interview with farmer Joe Del Bosque. Bosque, a Firebaugh farmer, grows almonds, melons, and asparagus on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.

I grew up in the Central Valley--specifically, Fresno and Clovis. Kindergarten through ninth grade, I attended a small private school. Because not many division-5 schools exist in the greater Fresno area, our athletics teams traveled to small rural towns (including Firebaugh) for "away" games. This blog previously discussed rural athletics here. About an hour outside of Fresno, Firebaugh is located on the west side of the San Joaquin River. After talking with friends, I realize most people have never heard of Firebaugh. Here is a link to some general information about the city. 

On January 17, 2014, the Governor of California, Jerry Brown, declared the drought a state of emergency. It was easy to forget about the drought when I was attending college a few miles from Newport Beach. Yet, when I visited home, I was abruptly reminded of the drought's effects every time I drove down the Grapevine. Here are some images of the extreme draught conditions in California, visualized by comparing the same locations on July 20, 2011 and August 19, 2014. 

This blog has previously discussed the effects of the California drought (see here, here, and here). In light of the storms California experienced this winter, many (myself included) find themselves wondering: is the drought over? According to U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the answer requires an analysis of California's three primary sources of water: surface water, snowpack, and groundwater. 

Precipitation in 2017 has filled the majority of California's major reservoirs to above-historic average levels. As the USGS "streamgage network" illustrates, flows in the majority of the streams have been at or above average for most of the last 4 months. This indicates that California's surface water levels (such as rivers, creeks, lakes, and reservoirs) are in good condition. According to the California Data Exchange Center, as of today, statewide snow accumulation data indicate that snowpack in the Northern, Central, and Southern Sierra is 183 percent of normal for this date. Groundwater aquifers, however, recover at a much slower pace than surface water, and the long-term impacts of the drought on groundwater have not been remedied by the recent weather. If complete groundwater recovery is possible, it will likely take many years to accomplish. 

While recent rainfall eased Central Valley farmers' concerns about a successful grow year, farmers now fear having adequate labor forces for the upcoming harvest. Using less than one percent of farmland in the United States, the Central Valley supplies eight percent of the nation's agricultural output and produces a quarter of the nation's food, including forty percent of the nation's fruits, nuts, and other table foods. 

Many farmers across the the country have expressed concerns about President Trump's immigration policies and threats of mass deportation annihilating their workforce. See these similar commentaries by NPR, Vanity Fair, CNN, and The Huffington Post. 

California agriculture simply could not work without migrant farmworkers. Commenting on migrant labor in the Central Valley, Del Bosque said: 

When I start harvesting my melons, I need 300 people. And there’s like six other melon guys who need 300 people, and one probably needs 900. So we need around 3,000 people to harvest. Then, the tomato guys need people, the grape guys need people and the garlic guys need people. There are not enough people in these little towns for that seasonal surge in labor needs. That’s why we’re dependent on people who come from somewhere else.

The Labor Department estimates that over half of the 2.5 million farmworkers are undocumented workers. Bruce Goldstein, the executive director of Farmworker Justice, a nonprofit advocacy group that works to empower migrant and seasonal farmworkers, reported to The Huffington Post:

These threats of deportation are causing [migrant farmers] great anxiety. Farmworkers and their children are aware of these discussions and it makes them fearful for what’s going to happen. It would deprive them of jobs, split up their families and subject them to great harm.

In 2014, Del Bosque, known on Twitter as @WestsideFarmer, tweeted an invitation at President Obama after learning that he planned to visit the Central Valley. President Obama accepted Del Bosque's invitation and, along with Governor Brown, visited Del Bosque Farms for a discussion about the California drought. Now, Del Bosque is considering tweeting an invitation to @RealDonaldTrump (President Trump) to visit his farm to engage in dialogue about immigration.

My favorite memories of growing up in the Central Valley are summer days. My mom would take my sister and me to the local strawberry field by our house in Clovis to buy freshly picked strawberries. If President Trump visited Fresno in the summer and watched the migrant farmers working hard in 115 degree heat, would he still think Mexicans are “taking our manufacturing jobs” and “killing us?”