It directly involves consumers because the shortage of workers and union activism is contributing to a dramatic increase in imported fruit. If current conditions prevail, US farmers will increasingly be lost and more of our food will be grown by foreign producers. Already American farmers are at a severe labor cost disadvantage with Mexican, Serbian, Chinese and South America growers paying 1/20 or even less of what American farmers pay in labor. This is the main reason why Mexican berry imports, for example, have grown by 500% in the past ten years according to the Wall Street Journal. This may not be a concern for consumers who appreciate the low cost of raspberries, blueberries and other fruit, but as the FDA recently reported, imported food has eight to ten times the pesticide residue than domestic food. In addition to paying far less for farmworker labor, foreign producers often do not have the same environmental and food safety protections. Consumers need to be aware of the country of origin of their food, as well as become more aware of how the union activism is contributing to the rapid increase of food imports.
