Restrictive immigration policies are causing problems for Chester County’s mushroom industry, which is struggling with a major labor shortage, write Hazel Velasco Palacios and Kathleen Sexsmith for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Chester County – home of Kennett Square, the Mushroom Capital of the World – produced 199 million pounds of mushrooms in the 2023-24 season, making up the majority of Pennsylvania’s and the nation’s yield.
The industry has struggled with recruiting and retaining workers for decades due to its demanding nature on the body. Workers harvest delicate mushrooms by hand in humid growing rooms and are paid on a piece-rate system.
While this lets some workers earn more, it also leads to instability, as pay varies with harvest conditions and market demand. This makes it difficult to maintain a stable workforce, making local mushroom production relying on immigrant labor.
However, there is now a generational shift in the Mexican mushroom workforce, as older workers age out, while their U.S.-born children typically work on farms in their teens but then move from agriculture.
Additionally, with increased deportations and tighter restrictions on work permits and asylum protections, the pool of available workers in Chester County’s mushroom industry is likely to further shrink.
Read more about the mushroom industry labor shortage in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on VISTA Today in March 2025.
