Assessing the Impact of Labor Shortages as a Marketing Barrier

Abstract

Labor is an important input into the production and distribution of U.S. horticultural commodities and products. Though labor is necessary throughout the production of horticultural commodities, it is also a critical input to successful marketing and delivery. Historically, labor shortages are usually thought of as a pre-harvest problem and the economic impacts of labor shortages are estimated from models related to production. Thus the size and economic consequences of post-harvest labor shortages are unknown. The research from this project yielded an estimate of the foregone economic welfare due to post-harvest labor shortages in marketing, distribution, and delivery.