'Without People, We Are Nothing': California's Farm Workforce Is Growing Older | KQED

""If their parents have chronic health issues, struggle to make ends meet, and tell their kids to get an education instead, many children listen," Flores said."

""We've had scattered reports of people not showing up to complete harvesting operations," he said."

Farmwork in Fresno County faces steep labor shortages as the workforce ages and younger generations avoid field jobs. In Caruthers, a crew supervisor named Carmen expects six workers but gets three, all over 40. Since the 1970s, migration from Mexico filled farm jobs and kept the workforce young; the largest farmworker cohort in 1969 was ages 16–25, shifting to older age groups by the 1990s and continuing to rise. Economic pressures, chronic health problems among parents, and parental encouragement to pursue education deter children from farm work. Rumors and enforcement of immigration policies also depress turnout. Growers are adopting mechanization to compensate.

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