The Impacts of COVID-19 on Fruit and Vegetable Production

Abstract COVID-19 has had unprecedented impacts on the U S economy, in large part because of its impacts on workers Within food and agriculture, these impacts 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 U S agricultural labor supply is adversely impacted by this pandemic The major crop losses include $16 million in lettuce, $5 million in apples, and $4 million in grapes This article is protected by copyright All rights reserved