There are some alternatives that do not increase the labor supply - for farmers they might switch to a crop that requires less manual labor or is mechanizable s

There are some alternatives that do not increase the labor supply - for farmers they might switch to a crop that requires less manual labor or is mechanizable so they do not need as many workers, and demand for that crop might be filled by imports from another country. It seems like something weird is going on with farm labor because we hear about a shortage of workers every couple of years but farm worker pay have not gone up that much ( up to half the average California workers salary). Here's one example of the guy in Stockton paying about 16000(?) versus the people in Napa paying 40000 for the same crop/work (the grapes in Napa are worth more), and Napa farm workers are commuting from the Central Valley. http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-farms-immigration/ http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-farms-immigration/