Immigration policy, foreign agricultural labor, and exit intentions in the United States dairy industry

Abstract

United States agriculture is dependent on foreign labor. Current US immigration policies have been alleged to disrupt agricultural labor availability, particularly that of hired foreign labor. A national survey of dairy farmers across herd sizes and regions of the United States was conducted and the results were used to estimate the extent to which hired foreign labor dependency will affect exit intentions in dairy farming. This study found that the expected probability of exit from dairy farming increased as the use of hired foreign labor intensified. But the expected probability of exit also decreased rapidly as herd sizes got larger. Given the immigration policy currently in place, farmers expecting labor shortages in the future are expected to experience greater tendency to exit the industry. © 2010 American Dairy Science Association.