[r9etb]

Yes, you have to plan ahead, nothing new for farmers, and may well have to pay more than for illegals. Which is really the issue.

The real issue is that the growers' margins are so thin that they really can't afford to pay more. They'll go out of business instead. Big corporate farms might pick up some of the slack, but mostly it'll just result in more imports from places like Chile.

[SJackson]

The real issue is that the growers' margins are so thin that they really can't afford to pay more. They'll go out of business instead. Big corporate farms might pick up some of the slack, but mostly it'll just result in more imports from places like Chile.

If true, and the large growers can't meet demand, I'd prefer to import apples than import an abusive labor system.

[Iscool]

but mostly it'll just result in more imports from places like Chile.

Why fight it??? Mexican migrants have moved into higher paid jobs in America...

American farmers can't pay more since the co-ops won't give them any more...Americans can not compete with farms in South America...

They call this "the chickens coming home to roost"...

[Mr. Lucky]

Alright, if, as you assert, it's inefficient for American growers to dedicate capital resources to growing fruit, those resources should properly be withdrawn from the fruit business and applied to a more efficient use.

That's why we aren't all living in log cabins and plowing with mules.

[Fury]

The real issue is that the growers' margins are so thin that they really can't afford to pay more. They'll go out of business instead. Big corporate farms might pick up some of the slack, but mostly it'll just result in more imports from places like Chile.

I understand and appreciate your argument, but I don't believe that it's sufficiently valid, to excuse (not saying you believe this) producers who knowingly hire illegals to work for them.

The immigration system as currently constituted appears to me to be broke. If farmers and other producers are already operating on thin margins, it's probably time to re-engineer their business.