The Effects of COVID-19 on Fruit and Vegetable Production

William Ridley, Stephen Devadoss

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

COVID-19 has had unprecedented effects on the US economy, in large part because of its effects on workers. Within food and agriculture, these effects pose the greatest threat to the production of labor-intensive commodities—in particular, fruits and vegetables, the production of which tends to require large numbers of workers for harvesting and packing. We econometrically estimate the effects of COVID-19 on fruit and vegetable production as the US agricultural labor supply is adversely affected by this pandemic. The major crop losses include $16 million in lettuce, $5 million in apples, and $4 million in grapes.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)329-340
Number of pages12
JournalApplied Economic Perspectives and Policy
Volume43
Issue number1
Early online dateOct 20 2020
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2021

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • farm labor
  • fruit and vegetable production

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Development
  • Economics and Econometrics

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