The midday sun in Central Florida can be unforgiving, baking the earth and leaving farmers squinting across their fields. But this summer, the real heat isn’t just coming from above—it’s coming from Washington and Tallahassee, too. On August 20, 2025, farmers in the heart of Florida’s strawberry region found themselves grappling with a challenge they say could threaten their very livelihoods: a shrinking workforce, driven by fears of deportation under the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
According to NPR, the effects of these policies are being felt acutely on the ground. Immigration raids and stepped-up enforcement—sometimes with the visible involvement of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s highway patrol and local police—have slowed farm operations to a crawl in some communities. The result? Some farmers are planting fewer crops, scaling back production, and wondering how much longer they can hold on.
One farmer, who asked to be identified only as F. out of fear of retaliation, has worked his land since the 1980s. He’s seen plenty of ups and downs, but nothing like this. "Things changed, almost overnight," he told NPR, his voice dropping as he surveyed what should be a bustling field. He explained, "The government is killing farming. This is going to end us." For F., the numbers are stark: his workforce has been cut nearly in half. "A lot of the migrants have left. The rest are hiding."
In a typical year, F. relies on a mix of workers—about half without legal status, and half with H2A agricultural visas. But this year, he’s not taking any chances. He’s refused to hire anyone who isn’t authorized to work in the U.S., even though he can’t afford to bring in more H2A visa workers due to rising costs. The upshot? "I'm drastically cutting down production next year," F. said. "To 35% of what I usually do."
The numbers tell a grim story. Over the past four months leading up to August 2025, agricultural employment nationwide has dropped by 155,000 workers—the steepest decline in almost a decade, NPR reports. Economists have warned that this trend could ripple through the U.S. economy, especially in sectors like agriculture that depend heavily on migrant labor.
Even President Trump has acknowledged the pinch. Back in mid-June, at a news conference, he remarked, "Our farmers are being hurt badly. They have very good workers, they've worked for them for 20 years. They're not citizens, but they've turned out to be great. We can't take farmers and take all their people." Yet, despite this recognition, there’s been no shift in policy. If anything, the administration has doubled down. In early July, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins made it clear: "The president has been unequivocal that there will be no amnesty." She suggested instead that automation and drawing from "34 million able-bodied adults in our Medicaid program" could fill the gap. "There are plenty of workers in America," Rollins insisted.
But farmers on the ground say these ideas are out of touch. Many report paying well above minimum wage, yet they struggle to attract American-born workers willing to take on the grueling, seasonal labor. John Walt Boatright, director of government affairs at the American Farm Bureau, explained the process: "In order to apply for an H2A visa, farmers must post their labor needs to give American workers a fair chance to apply for the job. The interest and the willingness to work on farms has not been there. It hasn't been there for a long time."
Boatright and the American Farm Bureau are pushing for urgent reform. They want to see the H2A visa system overhauled and a pathway to legalization—not citizenship—for farmworkers who are already here without papers. According to NPR, this position is shared by many in Florida’s agricultural sector, who argue that food security should be considered a matter of national security.
Jeb Smith, president of the Florida Farm Bureau Federation, put it bluntly: "I think the American consumer ought to be concerned about food being a national security issue. Anytime that there is a threat to not getting a safe, affordable and abundant food supply, it should be concerning to the American public. We do not want to be dependent on foreign countries for our food. That could be a very devastating reality. That is a dangerous thing to dabble with." Smith’s top priority is capping the costs of the H2A visa program, but he stops short of calling for a path to citizenship. "There is a concern about some of our workforce just not being able to function at full capacity. That's something we need to be very cognizant of. When it comes to deportation, I'm confident most farmers in our country agree we want a safe border, but we need a good workforce, and we need it legal."
Traveling farther into Central Florida, the landscape is dotted with Trump flags and mailboxes sporting MAGA stickers—a reminder of the region’s political leanings. Yet even here, among the president’s supporters, anxiety is growing. Another strawberry farmer, identified only as W., agreed to speak with NPR on the condition of anonymity. He said he "fully supports the president," but worries about his farm’s future. W. wants two things: lower H2A visa fees and a path to legalization for long-term immigrant workers. "They need to come up with like, letting these ones who've been here for 15-20 years going in and doing their papers right," he said. "I mean, they been here, raised their families. I know there's some bad seeds out there. But there's bad seeds everywhere."
W. also noted that, on immigration, Governor DeSantis and President Trump "might be riding them a little bit hard." It’s a sentiment echoed quietly, but widely, among those whose livelihoods depend on a stable, reliable workforce—regardless of the politics in the air.
Meanwhile, the fields themselves tell their own story. In July, tractors prepped the soil for what should have been next spring’s bounty. But with fewer hands to plant, tend, and harvest, the future of Florida’s strawberry industry—and perhaps American agriculture more broadly—feels uncertain.
As the debate over immigration intensifies, Florida’s farmers are caught in the crossfire. They’re asking for practical solutions: reform the guest worker visa system, provide a legal path for those already here, and ensure that America’s food supply remains secure. For now, though, many are simply hoping to survive the season.
