July 5, 1943

FARM LABOR SHORTAGE

Expect Crisis at Harvest

CHICAGO, Ill.—Hired hands have left the farm for war work or service in the armed forces, leaving labor a quarter of a million behind June 1 last and a half million behind the average of 1937–41, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Agricultural Economics. The labor crisis is being combated inn part with foreign workers from the Bahamas, Mexico, and Jamaica, 38,000 so far with another 25,000 expected. Italian prisoners of war and Japanese-American internees are also being utilized as farm laborers. An estimated 500,000 to 750,000 additional workers are estimated to be needed for this year’s harvest. California alone, which supplies one-tenth of the food for the nation, expects to need 300,000 laborers from July to October. Harvests are already underway in Kansas and Oklahoma.