Basil Jarrett | Still picking apples? Time to re-think the farm work programme

IF LIKE me, you’ve been inundated with the latest news coming out of the United States about that country’s war on illegal and undocumented immigrants, then without a doubt, something interesting should have jumped out at you. While America’s crackdown on illegal aliens was built on the premise that violent criminal immigrants are wreaking havoc on the country, for some reason, many of the arrests, detention and deportations seem to be centred on undocumented migrants working on US farms and farmlands. Illegal? Yes. Violent criminals? I’m not so sure.

But one thing is certain. In the last six months, the United States, the primary destination for Jamaican farm workers, has become increasingly protectionist, with immigration policy swinging like a machete through swathes of strawberry and peach fields.

THE FARM WORK PROGRAMME

The Overseas Employment Programme, a programme that has been administered by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security since 1953, facilitates the selection and recruitment of farm workers for the United States and Canada. Last year, almost 6,000 Jamaicans signed up to work on US farms, but delays, visa denials, and political wrangling have left many stranded, waiting, or worse, unpaid and disillusioned. In 2025, those fears are now being realised as Uncle Sam aggressively builds an alternative plan for keepings its agricultural industry humming.

While Jamaica and Jamaicans have not been headline-makers in the daily deportation stories, the feeling of dread is palpable. And justifiably so. These programmes have fed many families, built countless homes, and kept the economy afloat with an estimated US$36 million in annual remittances. Despite the low wages and seasonal, backbreaking work, the uncertainty in the US right now has led to jitters right across the programme.

Programme administrators must therefore look to do what every other nation seems to be doing right now: Pivot. And pivot fast.

A GROWING NEED

Despite the overabundance of unskilled workers on these programmes, the ministry itself admits that there is growing demand overseas for skilled workers in industries like healthcare, hospitality, and interestingly enough, shipbuilding. Yes. Shipbuilding. As in welders, pipefitters, painters, and mechanics.

A recent government document outlining Jamaica’s push to enter the global shipping industry came across one of my desks recently. It highlighted the extraordinary demand for certified seafarers, ship cooks, engineers, deckhands, and other maritime workers. These are roles that require technical training, international certification, and discipline. More importantly, however, they also pay well. In 2023 alone, the global merchant fleet reached over 100,000 vessels, many of them desperate for skilled Caribbean workers. At the same time, the International Maritime Organization itself is forecasting a worldwide shortage of over 89,000 maritime officers by 2026.

At a time when our young people are graduating with Level 2 NVQs and no jobs, there are almost 90,000 officer jobs, literally drifting at sea.

THE DEMAND FOR SKILLED WORKERS

And it’s not just shipping. Skilled Jamaicans are in demand in healthcare, hospitality, construction, logistics, ICT and plumbing. Canada’s Express Entry system has actively targeted foreign skilled workers in over 50 fields and the UK has introduced its “Shortage Occupation List”, fast-tracking visas for electricians, masons, and other skilled trades. Even countries in the Middle East and Asia are recruiting English-speaking, trained workers from Commonwealth countries.

So why then are we still treating the export of unskilled or semi-skilled farm workers as the apex of our overseas employment strategy?

Well, for one, we’ve been doing it since 1953, and quite successfully too. But with the seismic shifts taking place in the US currently, perhaps it’s time to evolve. Perhaps it’s time to start sending more welders, plumbers, and skilled tradesmen and less apple pickers. And with artificial intelligence and automation threatening to reshape both white-collar and blue-collar jobs, the demand for human hands that can weld, bolt, rivet, and repair isn’t going anywhere.

MISSING THE BOAT

And that’s where I think we’re missing the boat. In an evolving world of opportunity, Jamaica cannot afford to just sit on the shore. Thankfully, there are signs of movement to harness some of this potential. Entities like the Caribbean Maritime University and even the Jamaica Defence Force through its renowned metal work and welding expertise, seem well prepared to take advantage of the aforementioned opportunities in shipbuilding as part of a national skills export strategy. But the key word here is opportunity. Because unless we start converting these opportunities into pipelines, all we’ll be doing is clapping off more farm workers at the airport for another 70 years.

In no way am I suggesting that we abandon the agricultural programmes that have served us so well for over 70 years. What I am suggesting, however, is a national pivot. A deliberate move to invest in, market, and export skilled trades to markets where the demand is high, the pay is better, and the future is more secure.

And yes, I hear the naysayers and I commiserate. After all, I have hired skilled labourers here in Jamaica and can certainly attest to their, uhm, “inadequacies”, and the need for them to be, for want of a better word, “upskilled”. Certainly, we do need to build Jamaica first, and yes, to an extent, exporting our skilled labour does drain the country of talent. But any way you slice it, upskilling our workers means increasing remittances and creating a global Jamaican workforce that returns with knowledge, capital, and connections. A win-win for all concerned.

In short, we must start somewhere. Whether through greater educational incentives to young people entering trade programmes like welding, pipefitting, and marine engineering, or the creation of an overseas skills export task force aimed at identifying specific skillsets and industries where Jamaican talent can be matched and placed, we must begin to re-align ourselves in light of the current global climate.

Immigration policy is shifting. Isolationism is rising and the world is changing fast. If we don’t change with it, we’ll be left picking up the pieces, or worse, still picking apples, for generations to come.

Major Basil Jarrett is the director of communications at the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) and crisis communications consultant. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Threads @IamBasilJarrett and linkedin.com/in/basiljarrett. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com