That’s a damn bitter pill to swallow when you consider the fact that these integral workers could likely face mass deportation if Donald Trump is elected president and carries out the major immigration reforms on which he has hinged his campaign. As we’ve reported before, should Trump somehow carry out the impossible, America’s food supply would be irrevocably crippled.
Now, America’s dairy farmers are speaking out and saying that Trump’s plan to deport illegal immigrants and somehow convince Mexico to pay for a wall would in fact bring the dairy industry to its milky knees.
A study paid for by dairy producers found that with the elimination of immigrant labor, the US dairy economy would take a $32 billion hit. Dairies would close, supply would drop, and the American people would end up paying almost twice as much for milk as we do now.
Because dairy farms operate around the clock, they have a hard time finding workers. Farmers claim relatives and locals don’t want to do the jobs, even if they are willing to pay them well over minimum wage. Legal, short-term, guest-worker programs are not helpful given that this isn’t seasonal work. Dairy farmers find themselves depending on illegal immigrants—and don’t know what they’d do without them.
Now even some dairy farmers who would normally vote Republican find themselves considering crossing party lines. Mitch Breunig, president of the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin told the Chicago Tribune, “With my group of friends, we kind of joked around and said, ‘Wow, did you ever think you’d vote for Hillary?’”
“We’re very weary with hearing the statement, ‘Those Mexicans are taking jobs away from Americans,’” Gordon Speirs, a farmer from Wisconsin and president of that state’s Dairy Business Association, said. “Come and show up on my door, and I’ll give you the job. But you’ve got to keep your job.”