Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Federal Reserve Report: Farmers Forced to Destroy Some Crop Because of Trump Immigration Policy

The Federal Reserve "Beige Book" is out.

The report on conditions throughout the country includes a comment from The San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank that indicates President Donald Trump's  aggressive enforcement against undocumented immigrants is having an impact on California's vast agricultural sector.

From the report:
Recent changes in immigration policy created substantial labor supply shortages for low-skilled workers in the agriculture sector; as a consequence, some growers discarded portions of their harvest.
 Expect prices to climb. California is the world’s 5th largest supplier of food, cotton fiber and other agricultural commodities. The unique Mediterranean climate allows California farmers to grow over 450+ different crops

California agriculture facts:

  • California is the largest exporter of almonds in the world
  • California is the number 1 dairy state in the U.S.
  • California produces over 86% of all the lemons consumed in the United States.
  • California is the 4th largest wine producer in the world and produces over 90% of the wine in the U.S.
  • 70 to 80% of all ripe olives are grown in California
  • California accounts for 94% of the processed tomatoes in the U.S.
  • California is the nation’s leading producer of strawberries, averaging 1.4 billion pounds of strawberries or 83% of the country’s total fresh and frozen strawberry production.
  • The value of the California strawberry crop is approximately $700 million with related employment of more than 48,000 people.
  • California produces 25% of the nation’s onions and 43% of the nation’s green onions.
 -RW 

4 comments:

  1. Did the Fed "beige book" mention this about California from the LA Times today?

    L.A. County homelessness jumps a 'staggering' 23% as need far outpaces housing, new count shows.

    http://touch(dot)latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-93401160/

    Trump? Boom? Fed?

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  2. ─ Expect prices to climb. ─

    How to create an artificial labor shortage.

    Step One. Peddle phony statistics that purport to show that "Dem Immigruntz Takum Er Jebz!"(*)
    Step Two. Nation Of Laws™

    The end.

    (*) Like Tucker Carlson who insists on using the Fixed Pie economic fallacy as justification for his hatred of immigrants.

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  3. I wonder how much overlap the labor shortage crop damage would have with the 'crop damage' that would occur if CA farmers had to pay free-market rates for water rather than subsidized/controlled government rates?

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  4. These commodities will just move out of California. While Cali is destroying food, Midwest states have produced more than they have in years according to other articles.

    ReplyDelete