Harvests at Risk With Squeezed Labor: Bloomberg

Governments’ go-to method for stopping the spread of COVID-19 is imposing travel limits on infected countries. Such limits could threaten food production in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. “American produce growers preparing to harvest crops are warning of a devastating impact on fruit and vegetables after the U.S. Embassy in Mexico announced a halt to visa interviews for seasonal farm workers,” explains Mike Dorning for Bloomberg. “Slaughterhouses also may face labor shortages.” Overseas workers represent about one third of seasonal farming jobs in Australia. Dorner describes an interconnected world of global agriculture and a vulnerable supply chain. Workers also have reason to worry about the United States and Europe as hotspots for anti-immigrant sentiments as well as COVID-19 and may fear arrests and infections as well as border closures or quarantines when they try to return home. – YaleGlobal