According to the Agricultural Statistics Service, farm wages have gone up 3 percent in the past year and have jumped more than 18 percent since 2001. This increase was caused by a severe shortage of labor.

Stephanie Cambrell, economist with the American Farm Bureau, said the agricultural labor market is very tight due to an exodus of workers from the labor force. According to Ben Ruiz, with the Latino Business Council, much of that exodus was migrant workers leaving agricultural jobs in favor of construction jobs in the city. Agricultural operations have to increase wages to compete with these high paying jobs in the city.

“Farmers and ranchers have to pay more to retain a shrinking labor force,” said Cambrell.

Despite all the talk about undocumented workers, agricultural jobs remain unfilled.

Many farmers are turning to technology to solve their labor problems. Using computers, robots, and other sophisticated automation systems, producers are finding new ways to get the chores done. These solutions are costly and only serve to exacerbate the situation. The more technological farming operations become, the more specialized skills are needed to work on the farm. This further limits the supply of adequately skilled farm labor.

This labor squeeze is another nail in the coffin for medium size operations. Large operations can afford to maintain a large, full-time, labor force or have enough work to employ specialized individuals. Medium-sized operations do not have these resources.

Livestock operations are especially sensitive to this labor shortage. Dairy farms and confined hog facilities can be an excellent source of jobs for a local community. Yet many areas, though suffering from high unemployment, are restricting the expansion of livestock farms. Many of these communities also lack any kind of training program to help local residents acquire the skills needed to work on a modern farming operation.

Then, there is that perception issue. Farm laborers suffer from a real image problem. Farm work is not viewed as glamorous or important. When, in reality, the skills and experience needed may be very specialized. And, isn’t producing a safe and plentiful food supply for the nation and the world a worthy vocation?

Perhaps we need a “National Farm Workers’ Day.” After all, we have days set aside for far sillier things, so why not a day to honor those in the agricultural labor force?

While we are at it, why not change the job titles to Agricultural Production Assistants or Porcine Production Managers?

The words of Jesus, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few,” refer to a much different kind of harvest, but they also sum up the current situation in American agriculture.

This farm news was published in the Oct. 25, 2006 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.