The Rural Blog - As the Trump administration steps up its immigration and deportation
efforts, Maine farmers who rely on immigrant labor to harvest seasonal
crops such as wild blueberries are concerned about labor shortages. Some
farmers worry that no matter how legal their past immigrant employees
may be, fears about deportation will keep them from "showing up to rake
[blueberry] fields — out in plain sight," reports Joyce Kryszak of The Maine Monitor.
Without immigrant workers, Maine farmers say they can't bring in all
their fields within the short window to harvest before crops begin to
rot.