Myat Thida Win, Zachariah Rutledge, Mywish K. Maredia
{"title":"Labor shortages and farmer adaptation strategies","authors":"Myat Thida Win, Zachariah Rutledge, Mywish K. Maredia","doi":"10.1002/aepp.13527","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Labor shortages are a growing challenge for U.S. agricultural producers, but little is known about farmers' adaptation strategies. We estimate the statistical relationship between farm labor shortages and adaptation strategies among California farmers. We find that increasing wages is the most common response, followed by changes in cultivation practices, adoption of labor-saving technologies, and use of farm labor contractors. Labor shortages are associated with an increase in the probability of raising wages by 21 percentage points and changing cultivation practices by 9 percentage points. These effects are more pronounced for labor-intensive crop farmers, highlighting the need for targeted support strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":8004,"journal":{"name":"Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy","volume":"47 3","pages":"896-913"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aepp.13527","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aepp.13527","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS & POLICY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Labor shortages are a growing challenge for U.S. agricultural producers, but little is known about farmers' adaptation strategies. We estimate the statistical relationship between farm labor shortages and adaptation strategies among California farmers. We find that increasing wages is the most common response, followed by changes in cultivation practices, adoption of labor-saving technologies, and use of farm labor contractors. Labor shortages are associated with an increase in the probability of raising wages by 21 percentage points and changing cultivation practices by 9 percentage points. These effects are more pronounced for labor-intensive crop farmers, highlighting the need for targeted support strategies.
期刊介绍:
Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy provides a forum to address contemporary and emerging policy issues within an economic framework that informs the decision-making and policy-making community.
AEPP welcomes submissions related to the economics of public policy themes associated with agriculture; animal, plant, and human health; energy; environment; food and consumer behavior; international development; natural hazards; natural resources; population and migration; and regional and rural development.