SANTA MARIA VALLEY - California agriculture has always relied on a steady flow of migrant workers to work in the fields.
But the number of available farm workers has dropped steadily in recent years creating a labor shortage the ag industry says is getting worse.
"Its across all of California, all regions and all commodities", says Richard Quandt of the Central Coast Grower Shipper Association.
Despite ongoing high unemployment in California, farmers have not been able to find local workers to fill the void.
"Its very difficult working conditions for relatively low pay", Quandt says, "so a lot of native born Americans will not work out in the fields or they will work out in the field for three, four or five days and then quit."
A more secure American border and deadly, drug cartel-led violence on the Mexican side is adding to the shortage.
"I think they are finding more opportunities actually in Mexico", Quandt says, "because the economy in Mexico is outperforming the U.S. and the Mexican peso is actually strong versus the U.S. dollar than it used to be."
Both the ag industry and migrant workers advocacy groups say the farm worker shortage is giving added urgency for comprehensive immigration reform.
The ag industry is proposing a guest worker program that would provide a steady and legal flow of migrant workers across the border.
"Similar to the old Brasero program", Quandt says, "where they could just come on a work visa and work for a defined period of time and then return to their home country, and they could do this year after year after year."
Farmers and growers with the most labor-intensive crops such as wine grapes and berries are the hardest hit by the labor shortage.
