Immigration reform tops public policy issues for growers, packers

"The stakes are rising and tempers are flaring in the immigration debate.  As much of the agricultural community seeks to avoid a mandatory E-Verify law without a suitable guest worker program for agriculture, economists with the American Farm Bureau Federation, Washington, D.C., have estimated the U.S. could lose $5 billion to $9 billion in agricultural production and $3 billion in net farm income if growers are left without a sufficient legal workforce, said Paul Schlegel, director of public policy for the Farm Bureau."

The Packer, Oct. 11, 2011.