Firebaugh, United States (AFP) – Lifelong farmer Joe Del Bosque knows that America can’t live without immigrants, but he worries that many of his countrymen think it can’t live with them either.

“When they’re needed, they welcome them. When they don’t need them, they want to kick them out,” the 75-year-old told AFP.

“Well, right now the country doesn’t know that they do need some of these workers.”

Farmers like Del Bosque, who grows cantaloupes and almonds in California, fear they could be at the sharp end of president-elect Donald Trump’s promise to deport millions of non-citizens.

Economists agree that a mass expulsion could leave him and others like him without enough workers to harvest food — causing shortages and sending prices skyrocketing.

“He’s talked about deportations. We don’t know yet what that means,” said Del Bosque.

“Does that mean everyone? We certainly hope that doesn’t mean he’s going to raid our farms, because without our people, our farms will come to a stop.”

And it isn’t just arable farmers who are worried.

Rick Naerebout, executive director of the Idaho Dairy Producers Association, warns the sudden disappearance of skilled laborers could be “devastating” to the dairy industry.

“It would only take a couple days of disruption and not being able to feed or milk our cows to where you would damage our industry beyond repair,” he told AFP.

– ‘Essential’ –
Around 2.4 million people work in farming in the United States, 44 percent of whom are undocumented, according to a survey by the Department of Labor.

Michigan State University economist David Ortega said — despite what some politicians say publicly — it is widely acknowledged in official circles that the entire system is heavily dependent on illegal workers.

“These are individuals that perform essential, very labor-intensive tasks like planting and harvesting,” he said.

“Many of them fill critical roles that many US-born workers are either unable or unwilling to perform.”

Farm work is hard, and often done in a difficult environment — summer temperatures in California can top 40 celsius (104 Fahrenheit), while winters in places like Idaho are routinely below freezing.

This reality stands in stark contrast to claims by nationalist politicians like Trump that these immigrants are “stealing” American jobs.

Naerebout, of the Idaho Dairy Producers Association, said it’s a common — and frustrating — fallacy.

To illustrate the point, he says one contractor last year advertised to fill thousands of roles.

“They had fewer than 30 domestic applications for 6,000 jobs,” he said.

“Only 12 of those individuals resulted in an interview, and only two resulted in a hire, and those two that got hired didn’t make it to harvest.

“Americans don’t want these jobs.”

– Posturing –
Such details were absent on the campaign trail, where Trump rallies painted migrants only as a problem for the United States, a source of crime and overcrowding that need to be sent packing.

The rhetoric was popular with voters, especially in rural areas, many of whom cited immigration as a key reason for supporting Trump.

California dairy farmer Tom Barcellos says he is convinced that — despite Trump’s promise to carry out the largest deportation in US history — common sense will prevail when the Republican takes office on January 20.

“I’ve been to (Washington) DC many times. I’ve been to (California state capital) Sacramento many times,” he said.

“Those that have the power know we’re not going to go raid agriculture, because that’s the food source for the American people, and they don’t want to raise the cost any more than it needs to be.”

For Naerebout there is a desperate — and long overdue — need to move past the political posturing of the last few decades and work out a way forward.

“We’ve been frustrated for, you know, 20 years trying to find a pathway forward to reforms at a national level, and both (Democrats and Republicans) are at fault,” he said.

“We as an industry wonder if there’s lack of political will to solve the problem because the problem presents itself as a great political fundraiser and stump speech.”

Del Bosque says he hires around 200 workers during harvest season and finds the process frustrating.

Migrants who try to do things legally get bogged down in a bureaucracy that appears to have no understanding of the needs of the workers or the industries that need to employ them.

“A lot of our fresh fruits and vegetables need to be picked by hand,” he said.

“If Americans value that kind of food in their diet — fresh fruits and vegetables — they need to consider that we have to have a reliable workforce to have a reliable food supply.”