American farmers have been complaining of labor shortages for several years.（美国农场主对劳动力欠缺的埋怨已延续不少年了。）The complains are unlikely to stop without an overhaul of i妹妹igration rules for farm workers.（若是没有给农场主一个完全点窜的移民律例，这个埋怨仿佛没法遏制。）
Congress has obstructed efforts to create a more straightforward visa for agricultural workers that would let foreign workers stay longer in the U.S. and change jobs within the industry.（国会阻碍了为农业工人缔造更多直接签证的尽力，这些尽力包含让外国工人可以在美国待的时候更久和在行业内有改换事情的权力。）If this doesn’t change, American businesses, co妹妹unities, and consumers will be the losers.（参加这类环境不扭转，那末美国的贸易、社团和消费者将会成为输家。）
Perhaps half of U.S. farm laborers are undocumented i妹妹igrants.（可能一半美国农场的劳动力是没有证件的移民。）As fewer such workers enter the country, the characteristics of the agricultural workforce are changing.（更少的此类工人进入美国，农业劳动力的特性正在产生变革。）Today’s farm laborers, while still predominantly born in Mexico, are more likely to be settled rather than migrating and more likely to be married than single.（如今农场的工人仍是主如果在墨西哥诞生的，他们更可能选择假寓在美国而不是移民，他们更愿意成婚而不是独身。）They’re also aging.（他们正处于老龄化。）At the start of this century, about one-third of crop workers were over the age of 35.（在本世纪初，三分之一作物工人在35岁以上。）Now more than half are.（如今已跨越一半了。）And picking crops is hard
on older bodies.（对付春秋大的人来讲，采摘作物是很坚苦的事情。）One oft-debated cure for this labor shortage remains as implausible as it’s been all along: Native U.S. workers won’t be returning to the farm.（一个常常被争辩的解决劳动力欠缺的法子跟一向以来同样分歧情理：美邦本国劳动力将不会返回农场。）
Mechanization isn’t the answer, either---not yet, at least. （机器化不是解决方案——最少今朝还不是。）Production of corn, cotton, rice, soybeans, and wheat has been largely mechanized, but many high-value, labor-intensive crops, such as strawberry, need labor.（谷物、棉花、大米、大豆和小麦@已大范%V26F3%围@机器化了，可是不少高价值、劳动力密集型作物，如草莓，就必要劳动力。）Even dairy farms, where robots do a small share of milking, have a long way to go before they’re automated.（乃至在奶牛场，那边呆板人智能做很少一部门事情，要实现主动化还要很长的路要走。）
As a result, farms have grown increasingly reliant on temporary guest workers using the H-2A visa to fill the gaps in the workforce.（是以，农场愈来愈依靠利用H-2A签证的姑且工来弥补劳动力的缺口。）Starting around 2012, requests for the visas rose sharply; from 2011 to 2016 the number of visas issued more than double.（从2012年起头，这类签证需求激增；从2011年到2016年签证的签发数目翻了一倍多。）
The H-2A visa has no numerical cap, unlike the H-2B visa for nonagricultural work, which is limited to 66,000 a year.（H-2A签证没稀有字限定，不像非农业事情签证H-2B一年限定6万6千人。）Even so, employers complain they aren’t given all the workers they need.（即使如斯，雇主们仍是埋怨他们没有获得他们所必要的所有工人。）The process is cumbersome, expensive, and unreliable.（这个进程繁琐、后悔且不成靠。）One survey found that bureaucratic delays led the average H-2A workers to arrive on the job 22 days late.（一项查询拜访发明，权要风格致使H-2A签证工人均匀到岗时候延迟22天。）The shortage is compounded by federal i妹妹igration raids, which remove some workers and drive others underground.（联邦移民突击查抄加重了这种欠缺，一些工人被清除，而另外一些工人转入了地下。）
In a 2012 survey, 71 percent of tree-fruit growers and almost 80 percent of raisin and berry growers said they were short of labor.（按照2012年的一项查询拜访，71%的果树莳植者和80%的葡萄干和浆果的莳植者说他们劳动力欠缺。）Some western farmers have responded by moving operations to Mexico.（一些西边的农产主已做出了将农场移到墨西哥的回应。）From 1998 to 2000, 14.5 percent of the fruit Americans consumed was imported.（从1998年到2000年美国人消费的瓜果中14.5%是入口的。）Little more than a decade later, the share of imports was 25.8 percent.（十年多一点时候，入口的比例已到达25.8%。）
In effect, the U.S. can import food or it can import the worker who pick it.（究竟上，美国可以选择入口食品或选择入口采摘的工人）
