Poll: People across the spectrum support immigration rules to keep food coming

With food prices skyrocketing, many factors have been blamed.

They include disrupted exports of grain, fertilizer, and fuel because of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. They also include supply-chain disruptions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition, the agricultural and food processing sectors have been plagued by the same labor shortages that have hit other parts of the economy.

Amid deep worries that Ohio’s foodbanks will run out of supplies this winter, a top official last week said that the labor shortage among food workers is particularly acute — and an irrational fear of immigrants isn’t helping.

“Another thing we’re lacking is labor,” said the official, Ohio Association of Foodbanks Executive Director Lisa Hamler-Fugitt. “We’d rather demonize the people who plant our food, grow our food, pick our food, and bring our food to our grocery stores. Those are our migrant workers who do the work that most Americans have clearly demonstrated they can’t or won’t do.”

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