Crops left to die after Central Coast farm faces labor shortage amid ICE fears

Описание: For the owner of JAS Family Farms Organics, Tony Serrano, it was a successful growing year on the Central Coast.

While everything looked like it was on track, it wouldn’t stay that way for long.

The farm quickly faced a labor shortage as its workers were scared to show up due to immigration fears.

“We hit a roadblock with the labor and the shortage. Not necessarily because there aren’t enough people around, but because everybody’s afraid to come out and work in the fields or anywhere if you’re my color,” said Serrano.

Serrano said what also added to the fear of ICE showing up was that his Hollister farm and Watsonville farm are both located off main roads, meaning workers were scared ICE could have easy access.

The lack of labor got so severe that Serrano said they had to start abandoning crops. There was simply not a large enough labor source to harvest it all in time.

“We end up leaving behind sometimes as much as 90-95% of our crops in the field. Something that’s completely edible, that’s total grade one, that would pass any type of inspection, that would definitely nourish some people who are in desperate need of it,” said Serrano. “But we’re leaving it on the plant, in the ground, because there is no way to collect it.”

The result of all this was various crops, from artichokes to strawberries and peppers, dying in his fields.