COST OF EXCLUSION The Effects of the 1942 Japanese Exclusion on US Agriculture
The U.S. government’s 1942 Japanese relocation program removed the advantage that high-skilled Japanese farmers had given to local agriculture on the West Coast. Whether the forced evacuation contributed to national security is open to question, but it was certainly costly.
The history of US agriculture from 1940 to the end of the 20th century is characterized by remarkable gains in productivity, increased specialization in high-value crops, and rapid technological advancements, particularly in mechanization and automation. These developments significantly reduced the need for manual labor in farming, accelerated the reallocation of workers from agriculture to industry and services, and contributed to substantial growth in income per capita.
Although the US was already an industrial nation in 1940, roughly 20 percent of the labor force was still employed in agriculture. The education, literacy, and skills of farmers were crucial in facilitating the adoption of improved agricultural methods and technologies in the following decades. The diffusion of machinery and chemical fertilizers, along with the shift toward more valuable crops, increased productivity per acre; however, the extent of this increase often depended on farmers’ ability to learn and implement new practices. A growing body of research has demonstrated a strong link between farmers’ education and their adoption of technology.
By 1940, Japanese Americans (both first- and second-generation) represented an exceptionally skilled segment of the agricultural workforce in the western United States. According to the 1940 Census, more than 20 percent of all Japanese Americans were farmers or farm workers, with many operating highly productive farms on the West Coast. Their success came not only from their higher levels of education compared with other groups but also from their strong work ethic, openness to innovation, and expertise in crop-specific techniques. Japanese Americans held agricultural work in high esteem, using their skills to specialize in valuable crops such as artichokes, asparagus, cabbage, garlic, onions, and various fruits and vegetables.
Shortly after the US declared war on Japan following the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, the government cited national security concerns to forcibly evacuate more than 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast between March 2 and October 31, 1942. The relocation program targeted both first- and second-generation Japanese immigrants, removing almost the entire population from the exclusion zone. Most relocated Japanese Americans were interned in relocation centers from 1942 to 1945, and most of them never returned to their original occupations or places of residence. Consequently, this policy quickly reduced the local supply of highly skilled agricultural workers and managers on the West Coast.
