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Food

America's Dairy Farmers Say Trump’s Mass Deportations Would Cripple Industry

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.
Photo via Flickr user CAFNR

If you've ever stepped foot in a professional kitchen, ambled through a farm, or peeked inside a food processing plant, it should come as little surprise that our nation's food supply is almost singlehandedly kept afloat by immigrants of Latin American descent.

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.

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READ MORE: How Donald Trump's Presidency Could Seriously Threaten Our Food Supply

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?'"

READ MORE: Milk Prices Would Double in the US Without Immigrant Workers

The study found that Trump's wall could mean the loss of 7,000 dairy farms and 208,000 jobs. Milk production would be down almost 50 billion pounds. Retail prices could increase, as would the prices of cheese, butter, and other milk-based products.

"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."