A survey recently released by the California Farm Bureau Federation shows immigration policy still harms agriculture in the same capacity as seen in a similar survey in 2012. The informal survey showed that more than half of responding farmers had experienced employee shortages during the past year. CFBF President Paul Wenger talked about how the worker shortage impacts farm operations in a recent Newsline.

“The bottom line is we have a broken immigration system,” Wenger said. “Farmers and ranchers are having to make decision not based on the markets but based on the availability of labor.” He also noted that the shortage in farm labor means a more competitive situation for farmers to source workers.