Missing migrants put area farms in tight spot [illegals=missing migrants]

The Daily News ^ | 7-10-06 | Sophie Swecker

[SJackson]

many farms across the state facing a huge labor shortage this growing season, as tighter security along the U.S.-Mexico border has crimped the supply of Latino migrant farm workers.

No, they're facing a labor shortage due to a business model built on violating the law. There's been no reduction in LEGAL migrant workers.

[A Balrog of Morgoth]

"Fifteen years ago we would have a steady stream of young people coming to us to ask for a job. This year, we didn't have one Caucasian person come to us," added Dobbins.

He's probably still offering the exact same wage he was fifteen years ago....

[Shimmer128]

Don't tell me, you didn't do a search before you posted this. Right??
:D
I'm new at posting and so nervous, but I did a search and posted it this morning. It wasn't so hard after all (to post) I might do it again sometime!

[rhombus]

The seasonal cherries and blueberries are now very cheap in the grocery stores. I don't know if we are importing more or not but if there is a shortage of labor for US growers, it isn't hitting suburbia as yet.

[A Balrog of Morgoth]

"We stay open until 7 now, because they can't get away from the farms for the 5 p.m. distribution," said Agnes Schmitz, an office worker at the Community Service Center.

No wonder he's having problems getting Americans to the jobs he won't pay them enough to do.

[Zenith]

Why not roll up your sleeves and pick all this yourself.

Its called hard work that you earn the sweat and tears.

[twigs]

An excellent point. This is the best year I can ever remember for excellent, sweet fruit. And it's the cheapest I ever remember it.

[Marius3188]

Exactly, having a economy based on a false pretense is stupid. Might as well put all your retirement in Enron.

[rhombus]

This is the best year I can ever remember for excellent, sweet fruit. And it's the cheapest I ever remember it.

I paid $2 a pint for blueberries and $2.99 a pound for cherries this past weekend. I don't expect people will pay much more - maybe a little more but not much more. If American growers can't supply produce at those prices, I expect South American growers will.

[CONSERVE]

Just the jobs that the 12 to 20 million illegals already here won't do.

[Iscool]

In my area, if you are white, you must be at least 16 years old to pick fruit...If you are an illegal Mexican, the entire family is out in the field...

Even back in the 60s, if a farmer could get a family of Mexicans, he wouldn't hire white people...

Hardly anyone is my area has used humans to pick blueberries or cherries in years...

[definitelynotaliberal]

"I think that most of these people who work in the fields are some of the hardest-working people I've ever seen in my life. They're no different than people who live here and go to Alaska to work in the summer," Thoeny said.

Obviously, the Caucasians go to Alaska because he has made his preference for Latinos clear. He/they set themselves up. They made it necessary for the Caucasians to go to Alaska. When the Latinos leave, those that would go to Alaska will probably stay - and work for Dobbins and Thoeny.

[definitelynotaliberal]

There's an idea! Let their cheap labor fuel their economies. They can grow it there and send it to us.

[RFT1]

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, isint that too bad. I honestly hope these farmers go bankrupt. Any business that requires ILLEGAL labor to make ends meet does not deserve to be in business.

[mysterio]

You know, my finances each month would be in much better shape if I could steal gasoline and natural gas. I think the government should give me amnesty to steal my energy needs, because my job isn't profitable enough with my current business model. If businesses are allowed to skirt the law to make more money, then I should be allowed to do so as well.

[Poincare]

"I personally can tell you, where I need 300 workers a day, I haven't had one Caucasian person knock on my door and say, 'I want to work for you.' I couldn't do this without the Hispanic people,"

Because non-hispanics are justifiably AFRAID to be out in the fields with the hispanics that think they OWN the labor rights.

This article is such BS propaganda! Berry field owners in the US are using an extremely inefficient labor model. Workers stoop and carry boxes back and forth. Europe and New Zealand, for example, produce berries and there the (lesser numbered and better paid) pickers recline on mobile carriers that allow them to pick more per hour and not get worn out.

the berry farmer in this article is just rationaling his poor practices--at our national expense.

[Jameison]

" Any business that requires ILLEGAL labor to make ends meet does not deserve to be in business."

Yup.
If he can't be in business by obeying the law, he has no business being in business.
Meanwhile, the rest of us don't get to subsidize his "cheap labor" by paying big taxes to cover their huge health/social security costs.

[vietvet67]

Use prison labor and detained illegals?...........hmmmmm

[sinkspur]

I paid $2 a pint for blueberries and $2.99 a pound for cherries this past weekend. I don't expect people will pay much more - maybe a little more but not much more. If American growers can't supply produce at those prices, I expect South American growers will.

Using cheap labor. US fruit cannot compete with imported fruit.

Fruit growers will go out of business without low cost labor.

[edzo4]

"migrants" must be the new liberal talking point

I saw this story over the weekend about a boatload of "migrants" trying to sneak into florida




http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/07/08/migrant.boat/

Cuban migrant dies in high-speed dash to Florida
Coast Guard stops boat loaded with 31 migrants




MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- A woman died after the Coast Guard chased and captured a speedboat carrying 31 Cuban migrants and three suspected immigrant smugglers about 4 miles off the coast of Boca Chica, Florida, on Saturday, the Coast Guard said.