‘We Don’t Have Enough Workers, Produce May Rot In Fields’
...too f-in bad, so f-in sad! I’d rather pay $20.00 for a pound of carrots picked by legals than $2.00 for a pound picked by illegals.
“Verified Legal” certification might have traction as a marketing tool for Fruits/Veggies, similar to “Organic”.
I wonder if anyone has the cajones to do that?
On the bright side, that would never happen since the whole "pay $5 for a head of lettuce" statements aren't based on production costs, but was simply a made-up number to try to scare people into selling-out their own country. A huge increase in pay results in a very small increase in cost per item.
They should have not held back and just said, "If you deport the illegals, you'll have to pay $10,000 for a head of lettuce." I mean, seriously, why mess around with piddly scare-tactic numbers?
Gotta call B/S on that one ... you either don't eat carrots or you've got more money than you know what to do with.
Don’t worry, food prices won’t rise all that much. American farmers still have to compete on a global scale. If they can’t find anyone here to pick it for a pittance, we’ll just import more food from Chile or Costa Rica or somewhere else south of the border. America is already a net importer of food.
It’s easier to import food. Importing cheap food is fast and legal. Importing cheap labor is either illegal or slow and cumbersome.
And its easier to grow energy crops than food crops. Public policy has put energy independence ahead of food independence. Maybe next year these farmers will learn their lesson and grow more corn and fewer carrots.
Absolutely!
But when you pay $2.00 per pound, you also pay more than $20.00 for the social services that that melon picker uses without contributing to the tax base. Paying $20.00 per pound will also not result in illegals running to get insurance or to get off the public dole.
Every time I pay my taxes, I am subsidizing that farmer, who hires illegals. What is the value of my contribution to that farmer’s well-being?