American farms’ answer to illegal immigration is to grow crops in Mexico – International Herald Tribune
Scaroni owns VegPacker, a California and Guanajuato-based company that grows lettuce, celery, cauliflower and other vegetables. VegPacker has struggled after forking out millions of dollars to launch its Mexico division two years ago.
The problem is that cheaper labor in Mexico often is offset by lower productivity and high training costs, especially when it comes to enforcing U.S. food-safety standards.
“The only thing that’s cheaper down here is diesel fuel and the labor per day,” Scaroni said. “My productivity is down 40 percent” from U.S. levels.
“I’m very concerned about the future of agriculture in the U.S.,” he added.