The US food system provides food and fiber to 330 million Americans and millions more abroad. The food system encompasses the farm input sector such as farm equipment makers and seed companies, farming, and the processing, transportation, and service involved in getting farm commodities to consumers.
Over half of the fresh fruit available to US consumers, 57 percent in 2018, was imported, as were 32 percent of the fresh vegetables. Three-fourths of the 115 pounds of fresh fruit available per person involve seven items: 28 pounds of bananas, 17 pounds of fresh apples, and eight pounds each of fresh avocados, grapes, oranges, pineapples, and strawberries.
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The average hourly earnings of hired US farm workers are rising faster than the average earnings of US nonfarm production workers. The earnings of all US hired farm workers averaged $15 an hour in 2019, according to USDA’s Agricultural Labor Survey, while nonfarm US workers in the BLS Current Employment Statistics program earned an average of $24 an hour.
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California is the largest farm state, with farm sales of $50 billion in 2017, and the state with the highest farm labor expenses. The state’s farmers had $11 billion in COA total farm labor expenses in 2017, or 28 percent of the $39 billion US total labor expenses. Florida is the fourth largest farm labor state, with farm sales of $7.5 billion and farm labor expenses of $1.8 billion in 2017 (WA had labor expenses of $2.4 billion and TX $2 billion).
Continue reading "A tale of two states: farm labor in CA and FL"...
AB 1066, the Phase-In Overtime for Agricultural Workers Act enacted in 2016, requires large farm employers to pay overtime wages to workers after eight hours a day or 40 hours a week by 2022. Since 1976, farm employers have been required to pay overtime after 10 hours a day or 60 hours a week.