U.S fruit, vegetable and dairy farms are increasingly suffering a labor shortage, resulting in lost crops and an annual reduction in fruit and vegetable production of 9.5% (approximately $3.1 billion). The labor shortage is due in part to a stronger economy that makes it easier for people to find less physical work. In addition, increasingly tight border security is resulting in fewer illegal immigrant workers from Mexico. Companies have been raising wages, increasing benefits, and even building housing and educational opportunities in order to attract employees, but labor availability remains scarce.
See "On U.S. Farms, Fewer Hands for the Harvest", Ilan Brat, August 12, 2015