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The debate over immigration reform is heating up in scores of Minnesota crop fields, livestock barns and farm homes. As Minnesota Milk Producers Association President Patrick Lunemann puts it, were struggling to find labor. Lunemann employs immigrants as part of the work force on his 700-cow dairy farm near the central Minnesota town of Clarissa. Hes seen an estimate that half the nations dairy cows are milked by immigrant labor, and its about the same in the state as well.

The nations largest agricultural organization, the American Farm Bureau Federation, launched a major effort this month to influence the immigration debate. The group is pushing for a guest worker program to help furnish the labor for California vegetable farms to Midwest dairy operations. The farm bureau commissioned a study by the World Agricultural Economics and Environmental Services group. The February study examined scenarios ranging from tougher immigration enforcement to a full-fledged guest worker program along the lines of what the farm bureau wants. The study found that tougher enforcement would nearly end undocumented immigrant farm labor, about 17 percent of the nations agricultural work force. The study said without those workers, farm costs will rise, eventually hiking food prices by as much as six percent. The price increases stay in the one to two percent range with a guest worker program, the study concluded.

Groups opposed to reform often argue that immigrant labor tends to lower average wages for everyone. The argument goes that by accepting entry level jobs like those typically found in the farm sector, immigrants touch off a downward wage spiral. The theory is that employers will constantly lower their wage offer because they think immigrants have few options and will take what they can get. That argument is likely to be applied to the farm sectors push for reform as well.

For Patrick Lunemann, the need for reform is real. The Minnesota dairy farmer said hes always one step away from a labor crisis on his farm, and its a constant struggle to find competent workers.

We need a pathway for people to have visas to come here and work, Lunemann said.

Mark Steil is based in Worthington, Minn., covering major changes in the economy and society of rural Minnesota for MPR News. Steil has worked for Minnesota Public Radio since 1978.

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Farms push for immigration reform

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Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) (pictured) faces Democrat Wesley Reed in a race to represent Texas' 27th Congressional District. | Bill Clark via Getty Images

When several dozen protesters lined up outside the Corpus Christi office of Texas Rep. Blake Farenthold last year, holding a petition with about 10,000 signatures in favor of immigration reform, they hoped to win the Republican's support before the 2014 midterm elections.

Six months closer to the already-heated elections, immigration reform advocates have little to show for it.

Although the two-term congressman has met with advocates and expressed openness to some type of reform, he hasn't made the full-scale evolution on immigration that some Republicans in similarly Latino-heavy districts have. His seat is safe enough that despite the large number of Latino voters he represents, he doesn't need to.

Farenthold's 27th District, which sits less than 200 miles from the Mexico border, has a substantial Latino population of 345,730 -- just under half the district. But that population isn't as influential as it once was. According to U.S. Census figures, the 2012 remapping of Texas increased the voting-age population for whites in the district by more than 100,000 voters, while reducing the number of Hispanics who could vote there by about that same number. Recent figures show the district currently has 243,991 white voters compared to 233,071 Hispanic voters.

In 2010, Farenthold defeated longtime Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas) by just 775 votes, following a recount. He easily won reelection in 2012, in part because the district no longer included the Latino voting bloc in the border town of Brownsville and added heavily Republican communities around Corpus Christi.

In Farenthold's 2014 election campaign, immigration will be a major part of the debate. He told HuffPost in a statement this week that although he supports legal immigration, he is "opposed to any policy that promotes illegal immigration."

"That said, our current system is broken and needs reform," he continued. "I sit on the House Judiciary Committee, where weve been actively working on concrete solutions to fix our nations immigration policy, piece-by-piece. Over the last several months, our committee has already made key advancements in reforming our immigration system by passing individual measures aimed at fixing specific problems with the current system."

The incumbent faces Democratic newcomer Wesley Reed, a 44-year-old FedEx pilot and Marine Corps Reserve member who has lived in the district for nearly six years. Reed has been seeking the support of immigration advocates, arguing that the congressman is wrong for joining his party in opposing broad reforms prior to the November general election.

"[Republicans] are more willing to adhere to tea party talking points to try to make sure they have their tea party base and support from them so they don't get any kind of primary so they can stay in office," Reed said. "But that's not what we need to do as a Congress. We need to make sure that we work together to find legitimate solutions to the problems for the people who are here undocumented."

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