Zachariah Rutledge Interviewed by the Western Farm Press About Farm Labor Issues in California

California, which produces the most food (by value) than any other state, is facing a major farm labor dilemma, namely a greater demand for labor than the available work force can provide. And the problem is growing despite several measures recently introduced by farmers and ranchers in hopes of addressing the issue.

“As a Ph.D. student I had already worked on some immigration issues in my studies, and when this topic surfaced I began looking deeper into the issue and realized that we lacked a lot of good information to properly examine and fully explore the issue,” Rutledge told Western Farm Press in a telephone interview. “I contacted the California Farm Bureau which had conducted a survey in 2017. I felt like we needed to add additional questions to the survey to get a broader picture of the issue, and the CFB agreed to partner with us to conduct the 2019 updated survey.”

Read the full feature here.