Mushroom farming hit by urgent labor shortage amid immigrant deportations
Source: Raw Story
March 12, 2025 9:25AM ET
“I had never worked with mushrooms before,” Luis said, reflecting on his time in Chester County’s mushroom industry. “But my family has always worked in agriculture, so I like it. I’m used to hard work.” Luis, whose name is a pseudonym to protect his identity, is part of the latest wave of immigrant workers who have, for decades, come to Chester County to work in Pennsylvania’s US$1.1 billion mushroom industry. He is a Venezuelan migrant who was granted Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, under the 2023 designation.
TPS allows foreign nationals already in the U.S. to remain for six, 12 or 18 months – regardless of how they entered – if their home country is deemed too dangerous for them to return. In February 2025, President Donald Trump terminated TPS for Venezuelans who received protection under the 2023 expansion. According to the Department of Homeland Security, this designation had allowed approximately 348,000 Venezuelans to remain in the U.S. legally, with many eligible for work authorization.
Meanwhile, Venezuelans who were granted TPS under the earlier 2021 designation can retain their status until Sept. 10, 2025. This provides temporary relief but leaves their long-term status uncertain. We are rural sociologists – a Penn State professor and a Ph.D. candidate – who study labor, migration and agriculture in the U.S. Our research examines how industries such as mushroom farming maintain a stable workforce. One of us recently published an article in the peer-reviewed journal Rural Sociology that highlights how Pennsylvania’s mushroom industry was already struggling with a labor shortage.
The termination of TPS for many Venezuelans, along with President Donald Trump’s broader immigration policies – including stricter border enforcement, increased deportations and tighter restrictions on work permits and asylum protections – will likely shrink the pool of available workers in Pennsylvania’s mushroom industry and other agricultural and food industries.
Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/mushroom-industry-faces-urgent-labor-shortage-and-latest-immigration-poli/
This area had what was probably the largest Mexican community in the area (where most of the Hispanics here are Puerto Ricans). I have been through Kennett Square and even at a mushroom farm. Didn't realize that Venezuelans were now picking up some of this work.
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