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Tony DiMare’s family owns 4,000 acres of tomato farms across Florida and California. Sadly, his Florida crops have been mowed over and left to rot, as with many tomato vines across the state.
But the reason has nothing to do with growing conditions and everything to do with the economy.
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DiMare told WSVN 7 Miami that President Donald Trump’s tariff and immigration policies are driving farmers to abandon their crops.
In January, he warned that Trump’s crackdown on migrants would squeeze farmers, who rely on migrants to pick produce.
“We have to secure our borders south and north, but you have to have a workforce in this country,” he told the Financial Post.
More recently, DiMare told The Washington Post that Florida’s acreage for tomato farms has tumbled from 61,800 acres in 1990 to 23,000 today – that’s a drop of almost 63%.
Deportations devastate farm workforce
About 50% of farm workers in the U.S. — including skilled supervisors and machine operators — are undocumented migrants, according to Farmonaut, a farm technology company.
As the Trump administration proceeds with mass deportations of undocumented migrants, there are far fewer pickers in the fields, and crops are left to go bad.
One farmer spoke to WSVN about fellow migrants leaving Florida each day. He spoke on condition of anonymity, concerned he might be deported himself.
"A lot of people are really afraid, and sometimes they come, sometimes they don’t,” he said. “And the harvest is lost because it cannot be harvested.”
The labor shortage also means Florida farmers have to pay more for labor. At the same time, they’re getting less money for their produce due to Trump’s tariff policies.
Read more: How much cash do you plan to keep on hand after you retire? Here are 3 of the biggest reasons you’ll need a substantial stash of savings in retirement
Tariffs upset traditional supply chain
From January through April, Trump’s threatened tariffs triggered Mexican suppliers to double or even triple tomato exports to the U.S.
The U.S. market was flooded with Mexican tomatoes. Florida farmers saw the wholesale price of a box of tomatoes plummet from $16 to $3 or $4 per box. DiMare said tomato farmers need around $10 or $11 per box to break even.
“You can’t even afford to pick them right now,” said Heather Moehling, president of the Miami-Dade County Farm Bureau. “Between the cost of the labor and the inputs that go in, it’s more cost-effective for the farmers to just plow them right now.”
In July, the Trump administration enacted a 17% tariff on most imports of fresh tomatoes from Mexico. The Center for Strategic and International Studies says the true impact of these policies will only become apparent later in the year.
Prepare for higher food costs
Tariffs and immigration policies can have a knock-on effect on farmers, right down to grocery stores. If U.S. farmers don’t have enough workers to harvest crops, Americans will have to buy more imported produce and pay higher costs due to tariffs.
While farmers have few options but to hope the political upheaval will end, consumers should prepare to mitigate those costs.
One way to do that is to buy a membership in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) organization. You’ll be supporting local farmers and getting local, less costly produce delivered to your door.
In addition to shopping frugally by clipping coupons and finding deals in flyers, you could start investing more money to build your wealth and get your cash working harder for you.
With Acorns, you can start investing your spare change with every purchase. After signing up and linking your bank account, Acorns automatically rounds up the price of your purchases to the nearest dollar and puts the difference into a smart investment portfolio.
That means even if your tomatoes get more expensive, you can still keep saving little by little.
Acorns can also help you set up monthly automatic investments if you want to save more aggressively. The best part? You can get a $20 bonus investment when signing up with a recurring contribution.
It’s also worth looking at your monthly bills to figure out where you can cut costs. Car insurance can be a big one, with Bankrate reporting the average consumer pays $2,679 annually.
OfficialCarInsurance.com can help you switch to a more affordable auto insurance option within minutes.
After answering a few questions about yourself and your vehicle, you can immediately compare quotes from trusted brands like Progressive, Allstate and GEICO. OfficialCarInusurance.com includes rates that can be as low as $29 per month.
Create a cash cushion
Investing can be a great way to generate long-term wealth, and paring back on monthly expenses can help too. But it’s always useful to have a better cash cushion to rely on when times get unexpectedly tough.
It’s worth making sure your cash account has a competitive interest rate, though, as you may otherwise be missing out on a higher return. Most standard savings accounts provide barely 0.4% back in interest. To get started, a high-yield account, such as a Wealthfront Cash account, can be a great place to grow your emergency savings, offering both competitive interest rates and easy access when you need funds.
With a Wealthfront Cash account, you could earn up to 4.25% APY on your uninvested cash for your first three months (0.50% APY boost on top of the 3.75% base variable APY) provided by program banks. That’s over ten times the national deposit savings rate, according to the FDIC’s September report.
With no minimum balances or account fees, as well as 24/7 withdrawals and free domestic wire transfers, you can ensure your funds remain accessible at all times. Plus, Wealthfront Cash account balances of up to $16 million are insured by the FDIC.
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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.