If you think America doesn't need commercial farm labor, you don't eat

A lot of activists say we don't need farm labor because, "I can grow my own food."

They must not eat.

 

Look simply at one of the most popular farm products.  The average American eats 117 pounds of potatoes a year, which is about two bushels. A highly efficient potato farm, run by experts with commercial farm labor, needs 316 square feet of land to grow two bushels of potatoes.

 

Not only do you need more than 316 square feet of space, because you're not going to be as efficient as a professional, commercial-scale farm, you also need to take time every day to check for water needs, presence of pests and fungus, as well as soil composition and pH -- and then you need to harvest it.

All of that is done by commercial farm labor.

Even if you were, you'd still only be producing the equivalent of one potato every three days. You can't survive on one potato every three days. You need to replicate that exponentially to grow all the vegetables you need simply to avoid starvation and malnutrition.

That requires commercial farm labor.  You can't do it yourself.