Labor Shortages Challenge Mexico’s Agricultural Sector

Specialists point out that Mexico’s agricultural sector faces a labor shortage, complicating efforts to meet production demands and driving competition with other industries and even with other countries.

Juan Cortina, President, National Agricultural Council (CNA), highlighted that the national agri-food industry faces a workforce shortage of at least 6 million workers. Luis Fernando Haro, Director, CNA, attributed this to factors such as competition for labor with other sectors like manufacturing and construction, as well as social support programs that discourage people from working.

Haro emphasized that another significant cause is the impact of organized crime, which recruits young minors who, by law, are not permitted to work in the fields. “There was a legal initiative that was amended, which allowed young people aged 16 or 17 to work in agricultural activities. However, the law stipulated that they could only operate in administrative areas, which does not meet the sector's actual needs,” he explained.

Andrés Canales, President, Council for Agricultural and Agro-Industrial Development of Jalisco (CDAAJ), highlighted that this situation is further aggravated by other challenges, such as drought, climate change, and global geopolitical conflicts. He pointed out that while the lack of labor is a serious problem in Jalisco, the country's leading agri-food state, it is an issue affecting all food-producing regions.

In Yucatan, producers continue to struggle to hire laborers for sugar cane harvests. Benjamín Gutiérrez, President, National Confederation of Rural Producers (CNPR) in the state, explained that they hoped that once construction on the Tren Maya was completed, those who had left the fields to work on the railway project would return. However, this did not happen. Instead, many chose to move to other states where major federal projects, such as the train in central Mexico, are underway, maintaining the shortage and preventing CNPR from reaching its goal of harvesting 1.6Mt of sugarcane by Sept. 30.

Canales highlighted that, in addition to competition with other domestic sectors, Mexican labor is also attractive to countries like the United States and Canada. “The constant migration of young people from rural areas to pursue the American dream is one of the main reasons why Jalisco’s agricultural sector, and all of Mexico, lacks sufficient labor for daily activities,” he stated.

Haro noted that agricultural laborers are usually hired from southeastern states like Chiapas, Tabasco, and Veracruz, who temporarily move to areas with higher horticultural production, such as Jalisco, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Baja California. In collaboration with the federal administration, they are working on a program to retain Mexican laborers within the country to achieve shared prosperity. “We want them to stay here with their families, to have a much better standard of living, and above all, to have well-paid jobs,” he said.

Given that demand for labor still exceeds the national supply, agri-food councils are promoting a campaign to grant temporary work visas to Central American migrants. Canales noted that this strategy has been successfully tested in the past. Because of this, the council is aiming to implement a program together with the Ministry of Labor and CNA, similar to Canadian government’s initiatives, where authorities assist in expediting processes, often including family members.

Canales underscored that another necessary measure in response to the labor shortage is to opt for the modernization of the agricultural sector by investing in technology to reduce dependency on manual labor. He further stressed that this would entail a shift in the production chain, as it would require offering better-paid jobs that demand higher technical skills from workers.