american farmers have been complaining of labor shortages for several years.（美国农场主对劳作力短少的诉苦现已持续许多年了。）the complains are unlikely to stop without an overhaul of immigration rules for farm workers.（假定没有给农场主一个完全批改的移民法规，这个诉苦如同无法中止。）
congress has obstructed efforts to create a more straightforward visa for agricultural workers that would let foreign workers stay longer in the u.s. and change jobs within the industry.（国会阻止了为农业工人创造更多直接签证的尽力，这些尽力包括让外国工人可以在美国待的时刻更久和在作业内有替换作业的权力。）if this doesn’t change, american businesses, communities, and consumers will be the losers.（参加这种情况不改动，那么美国的商业、社团和花费者将会变成输家。）
perhaps half of u.s. farm laborers are undocumented immigrants.（可以一半美国农场的劳作力是没有证件的移民。）as fewer such workers enter the country, the characteristics of the agricultural 
workforce are changing.（更少的此类工人进入美国，农业劳作力的特征正在发生改变。）today’s farm laborers, while still predominantly born in mexico, are more likely to be settled rather than migrating and more likely to be married than single.（如今农场的工人仍是首要是在墨西哥出世的，他们更可以选择久居在美国而不是移民，他们更情愿成婚而不是独身。）they’re also aging.（他们正处于老龄化。）at the start of this century, about one-third of crop workers were over the age of 35.（在本世纪初，三分之一作物工人在35岁以上。）now more than half are.（如今现已跨越一半了。）and picking crops is hard on older bodies.（关于年纪大的人来说，采摘作物是很困难的作业。）one oft-debated cure for this labor shortage remains as implausible as it’s been all along: native u.s. workers won’t be returning to the farm.（一个常常被争论的处置劳作力短少的办法跟一向以来相同不合道理：美国本国劳作力将不会回来农场。）
mechanization isn’t the answer, either—not yet, at least. （机械化不是处置方案——至少当前还不是。）production of corn, cotton, rice, soybeans, and wheat 
has been largely mechanized, but many high-value, labor-intensive crops, such as strawberry, need labor.（谷物、棉花、大米、大豆和小麦现已大规划机械化了，可是许多高价值、劳作力密布型作物，如草莓，就需要劳作力。）even dairy farms, where robots do a small share of milking, have a long way to go before they’re automated.（甚至在奶牛场，那里机器人智能做很少一有些作业，要完成主动化还要很长的路要走。）
as a result, farms have grown increasingly reliant on temporary guest workers using the h-2a visa to fill the gaps in the workforce.（因而，农场越来越依靠运用h-2a签证的暂时工来加添劳作力的缺口。）starting around 2012, requests for the visas rose sharply; from 2011 to 2016 the number of visas issued more than double.（从2012年头步，这种签证需要激增；从2011年到2016年签证的签发数量翻了一倍多。）
the h-2a visa has no numerical cap, unlike the h-2b visa for nonagricultural work, which is limited to 66,000 a year.（h-2a签证没稀有字捆绑，不像非农业作业签证h-2b一年捆绑6万6千人。）even so, employers complain they aren’t given all the workers they need.（即便如此，雇主们仍是诉苦他们没有得到他们所需要的一切工人。）the process is cumbersome, expensive, and unreliable.（这个进程繁琐、后悔且不可以靠。）one survey found that bureaucratic delays led the average h-2a workers to arrive on the job 22 days late.（一项查询发现，官僚个性致使h-2a签证工人均匀到岗时刻推迟22天。）the shortage is compounded by federal immigration raids, which remove some workers and drive others underground.（联邦移民突击查看加剧了这类短少，一些工人被铲除了，而另一些工人转入了地下。）
in a 2012 survey, 71 percent of tree-fruit growers and almost 80 percent of raisin and berry growers said they were short of labor.（根据2012年的一项查询，71%的果树栽培者和80%的葡萄干和浆果的栽培者说他们劳作力短少。）some western farmers have responded by moving operations to mexico.（一些西边的农产主现已做出了将农场移到墨西哥的回答。）from 1998 to 2000, 14.5 percent of the fruit americans consumed was imported.（从1998年到2000年美国人花费的生果中14.5%是进口的。）little more than a decade later, the share of imports was 25.8 percent.（十年多一点时刻，进口的比例现已抵达25.8%。）
in effect, the u.s. can import food or it can import the worker who pick it.（实际上，美国可以选择进口食物或许选择进口采摘的工人）
虽有至道，弗学，不知其善也。
