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Research ties rising farm wages to growing dependence on ag imports

Researchers say the cost of farm labor is directly linked to the amount of fresh produce the U.S. imports.

Michigan State University ag labor specialist Zach Rutledge has been analyzing the correlation between farm wages and ag imports into the U.S. over the past three decades.

“When wages rise, we are seeing that statistically linked to the quantity of hand-harvested, fresh fruit and vegetables coming into the country,” he says.

He says as imports rise, the viability of American fruit and vegetable growers becomes more at risk.

“I expect that link to be present moving forward, at least for the foreseeable future,” he says.

Since the 1990s, farm wages have risen by more than 30 percent while import volumes have increased 125 percent.

He says just a dollar increase results in nearly a 450,000 metric ton increase in imported fresh fruits and vegetables.

Models estimate for every 10 percent increase in real wages, domestic production declined 5.5 percent, and prices and the quality of imports rose by about three percent.

Rutledge says policy changes, like a new model for determining H-2A wages, will likely benefit growers and consumer prices.

Brownfield interviewed Rutledge during Wednesday’s Michigan Farm Labor Conference in Lansing.