It’s Impossible to Secure the Border Without Securing Our Labor
Migrant farmworkers harvest spinach near Coachella, Calif., on Feb. 24, 2017. H-2A visa workers constituted about 17 percent of U.S. farm labor in fiscal 2024, according to American Farm Bureau Federation estimates. David McNew/AFP via Getty Images
Everything feels stacked against the American farmer right now. Tariffs, poor soil health, expensive land, low crop diversity, high input costs, costly tractors, low stocking numbers of cattle, lack of grazing land, and commodity prices that have been stagnant for decades—it sometimes feels as if the system itself wants small and medium-sized farms to fail.
Mollie Engelhart
Author
Mollie Engelhart, regenerative farmer and rancher at Sovereignty Ranch, is committed to food sovereignty, soil regeneration, and educating on homesteading and self-sufficiency. She is the author of “Debunked by Nature”: Debunk Everything You Thought You Knew About Food, Farming, and Freedom—a raw, riveting account of her journey from vegan chef and LA restaurateur to hands-in-the-dirt farmer, and how nature shattered her cultural programming.
