Land O Lakes CEO says ‘we need more legal immigration’ to help US farmers because labor shortage could lead to ‘black swan event’

Ford who He chairs the Business Roundtable’s immigration committeeHe told a Department of Public Works audience that farmers “absolutely need labor” and said “we need more legal immigration” as an economic driver for businesses and the broader American economy. In some context, the US agricultural sector is currently grappling with increasing pressures resulting from trade disputes, farm bankruptcies, and an increasingly restrictive immigration environment.​

the term “Black swan event“For those unfamiliar, it refers to an unpredictable event with serious consequences that do not become apparent until it is too late. In agriculture, such events can include natural disasters, disease outbreaks, or severe business disruptions that threaten food production systems.​

Ford’s comments highlight the precarious situation facing American farmers who rely heavily on immigrant workers. According to the US Department of AgricultureAs of 2022, only 32% of crop farm workers were born in the United States. The vast majority of farmworkers (~42%) were born outside the United States and do not have a work permit. Only a small percentage of workers (~7%) are immigrants who have obtained US citizenship, while about 19% are certified immigrants (permanent residents or green card holders). In the dairy industry, served by Ford’s Land O’Lakes, the reliance on foreign labor is even more pronounced: says the National Milk Producers Federation Migrant workers represent 51% of total dairy employment

Ford said earlier luck The migration crisis can take about eight hours to unfold, because if cows are not milked, they begin to leak milk and can become infected, to the point that farmers may have to cull their herds and send cows for slaughter at a meat processing plant. But they, too, may suffer from a shortage of workers

Ford accepted the role of chairman of the Immigration Committee at the Business Roundtable in January. Seizure from apple CEO Tim Cook. The Business Roundtable, which represents more than 200 senior executives of major companies, supports increased skills migration, temporary work visas and border security measures. “Most CEOs would say we need some kind of change in our immigration policy,” Ford said, while acknowledging that border crossings at the southern border are down about 95%.​

During the Department of Public Works debate, Ford addressed recent policy proposals including a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas, saying her organization is “trying to get some clarity” on the details while working with administration officials on various visa-related initiatives. The agricultural sector has lost about 155,000 workers since last March The Labor Department said ICE’s efforts It would create “significant labor market impacts in the agricultural sector, which has long been driven to depend on a workforce with a high proportion of illegal aliens,” and could put “the country’s food supply at risk.”

You can watch Complete plate With Beth Ford, CEO of Land O’Lakes, in conversation with Fortune’s Emma Hinchcliffe, below.