Changes In Immigration Law In Georgia Produces An Estimated $381M In Lost Revenues Due To Labor Shortage

Report: Farm labor shortages may cost Georgia economy $391 million

The knee jerk reaction to this news will likely be:  "See, this is the cost of racist immigration policies.  The people who stood against the Hispanic immigrants have triggered this lost upon 'their friends' who own farms.  These farmers need to come over to the more progressive side so that their revenues can be restored with fair immigration laws".

NOT.

This affords everyone the attempt to measure the value of the industry and the value of the human capital needed to harvest these crops.
It provides unemployed legal citizens with an opportunity to see the $391 million in salaries that they left on the table.
It provides those who are innovative to see the need for advanced farming techniques to harvest delicate crops like tomatoes and cucumbers which can't be mechanically picked.

The program that offered jobs to parolees failed because many of them could not stand the heat of the hot fields.  Where is the innovator who will construct a low cost "space suit" that is climate controlled - allowing people to work without being exposed to 90 degree heat upon their body?

In addition with computer vision technology and robotics - there is an opportunity to focus the development efforts on machines that can identify the ripened state of the produce and delicately pick it.