Tuesday, June 09, 2009
The loss of immigrant labor would cripple the U.S. dairy industry, causing the economy to lose billions of dollars, according to a new study sponsored by the National Milk Producers Federation. After surveying more than 5,000 dairy farms, researchers found that half of them rely on immigrant labor—and that half is responsible for producing 62% of the nation’s milk supply.
The survey also reports that dairy farms employed 138,000 workers in 2008, of which 41% were migrant workers, primarily from Mexico. If the industry lost these workers, thousands of farms would cease to operate, leading to a 61% price jump in milk. Overall, eliminating immigrant labor from dairy farms would cause the U.S. economy to lose $22 billion.
The statistics on the importance of immigrant labor to the dairy industry echo similar figures for other agricultural sectors. It is estimated that nearly half of all meat packing workers are foreign born from Latin America, and about the same proportion is true for those who harvest the nation’s crops.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
The Economic Impacts of Immigration on U.S. Dairy Farms (National Milk Producers Federation) (PDF)
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