According to the USDA Farm Census, over 7.5 million acres were used to harvest fresh fruits and vegetables, excluding potatoes in 2002. Immigrants play a crucial role in Americas food supply chain, and they will continue to do so as essential workers harvesting Americas fruits and vegetables. Among workers in crop production, the share of foreign-born workers is even higher. In 2019, almost 57 percent of crop production workers were immigrants, including 36.4 percent who were undocumented.
Around 85 percent of hired crop farmworkers are not migrant workers but are considered settled, meaning that they work at a single location within 75 miles of their home. Among the small share of remaining migrant workers, the largest group is "shuttlers," who work at a single farm location more than 75 miles from home and may cross an international border to get to their worksite. The "follow the crop" migrant farmworker, who moves from state to state working on different crops as the seasons advance, is now a relative rarity. These workers made up just 3 percent of those surveyed by the NAWS in 2018–20, down from a high of 14 percent in 1992–94.
The crops picked by migrant workers include fresh fruits and vegetables, such as lettuce, corn, and potatoes.
