In 2011, Jerry Spencer had an idea.

As the founder and CEO of Grow Alabama, an organization that worked to promote the states farmers using a community-supported agriculture model, he witnessed firsthand how the passage of the states strict immigration law had hurt its farms.

Many Alabama farmers witnessed the abrupt departure of their workers, many of whom were undocumented immigrants that feared deportation. In their wake, many farmers especially those who grew fresh produce like tomatoes and blueberries were left without the workers they needed to harvest their crops.

Farmers throughout the country, in light of President Donald Trump s campaign promise to deport potentially millions of undocumented immigrants, are concerned they might soon meet a similar fate. What happened next, in Alabama in 2011, could serve as a warning of whats to come.

In response to the labor shortage prompted by the state law, Spencer promptly sprang into action with an experiment of his own making. He worked to recruit dozens of unemployed U.S. citizens to replace the missing immigrant workers, driving them an hour north of his Birmingham home to a tomato farm in Chandler Mountain.

The problem? According to Spencer, who is now retired, it was a total bust.

As media outlets like Mother Jones and the Associated Press reported at the time, only three workers lasted through the entirety of Spencers month-long experiment.

It really showed no comparison, Spencer, who lives in Birmingham, told HuffPost. The American workers could not do what the Mexican workers did. They were physically and mentally incapable.