The Potential effects of labor-intensive agriculture in Mexico on U.S-Mexico migration

This chapter explores the probable effects of freer agricultural trade on Mexican emigration to the United States. The emphasis is on winter fruits and vegetables, labor-intensive commodities already produced in Mexico and the United States. Vegetable production in northwest Mexico has developed into a substantial industry over the last half century. The Florida Tomato Committee is a growers’ committee which is charged with governing the regulations of the federal marketing order. The Florida Tomato Committee also manages marketing promotion campaigns, allocates production research funds, directs legislative activities and provides legal assistance. The foregoing analysis of the effects of trade liberalization on illegal migration in the Sinaloan fresh tomato industry provides some useful lessons for measuring the potential migration impacts of trade liberalization in Caribbean and Central American countries. Trade liberalization in labor-intensive commodities has been proposed as a way to diminish undocumented migration that results from the pull of US jobs and the push of unemployment in Mexico.