U.S. Department of Labor warns shortages could drive up food prices

Labor shortages could lead to a 10% increase in food prices, explains a W. P. Carey supply chain management expert.

In this story aired Oct. 21, 2025, on Arizona Horizon:

Forty percent of our agricultural workers are foreign-born. Of that 40%, another 40% are unwilling or unable to come to the farm — they are scared, they don't want to come. That's about 16 out of every 100 workers who are unwilling to come to the field. That does not mean all of them are undocumented or on H-2A [visas]. Now, how does that translate into production? Again, [looking at] the department's numbers — 16% translates to about 7% reduction in production… that 7% translates into a 10% food price hike.

– Hitendra Chaturvedi, supply chain management professor of practice