Arizona needs about 50,000 temporary workers to harvest winter produce, and only 25,000 of those workers typically come from the U.S. side of the border, according to an Arizona farm lobby group.

At least some workers from past years say they won’t be returning to Arizona this season.

At the same time, nearly 300,000 Arizona residents are unemployed after the worst economic downturn in generations.

So the agriculture industry is waiting to see if Americans will take what are typically immigrant jobs.

The same debate has long applied in other areas that rely heavily on immigrant labor, including the construction and hospitality industries. Changes will be difficult to track in those fields, because both have been slammed by the recession and there have been few job openings.

Farming, on the other hand, continues. Yuma growers will raise most of the lettuce that the country will eat this winter, but they won’t be able to harvest it without farm workers.

Recruiting efforts are under way. A new federal registry is making it easier for job seekers to find information about temporary farm work.

But job seekers from metro areas, unfamiliar with agriculture, may be ill-prepared for the conditions and physical demands of the work.

Arizona immigration law opens farm jobs to unemployed