State battles acute ag worker shortage

In the 1950s, 10% of the state’s adult population worked in agriculture, a number that has dropped to 1% today, according to the Texas Standard.

Diane Charlton, an associate professor at Montana State University who studies where farm workers come from, said the number of individuals from Mexico working in agriculture provides the most farm workers, has dropped an average of one percent per year from 1980 to 2010. That amounts to 250,000 fewer farm workers per year.

Mexico provides the most farm workers. Among the reasons for decreasing numbers of Mexican farm workers are growing industrialization and increasing access to education in Mexico, and an aging group of immigrants who have traditionally worked on American farms.