President Barack Obama's immigration reform policy could lead to a bigger shortage of farmhands in California, an association of fruit and vegetable growers warned.

Under Obama's executive action, some 5 million people will be blocked from deportation - thousands of them may opt to quit their seasonal work for year-round, regular-paying jobs serving in restaurants, constructing homes and cleaning rooms in hotels.

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The vice president and lawyer of the influential trade group, Western Growers, said the new immigration policy would not bring new agriculture workers so it is possible that farms in the Golden State will lose workers without any means to replace them.

Although the White House has yet to hammer out details of the new immigration policy, Western Growers said California agriculture has been in the decline for ten years, which led to a 15 to 20 percent shortage of farm workers. The industry has called for better immigration policies from Congress, such as a guest worker program that will benefit the state.

The state's more than 300,000 workers in farms make up the largest block of some 2.1 million illegal immigrants nationwide, based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Texas follows as a far second with less than half of California's farmhands.

Once Obama's immigration program takes effect next year, the parents of legitimate U.S. residents will be protected from deportation and stretch a 2012 program to keep safe from deportation people smuggled into the U.S. as children.

While California farmers face a worsening labor problem, the president's new policy will benefit workers who seek to keep their jobs to support families, said Armando Elenes of the United Farm Workers.

With legal papers on hand, workers will have more choices and protection against abuse, Elenes said. 

TagsU.S. immigration policy