Maureen Torrey sits on a tractor at the Torrey Farms in Elba, New York. She has changed crops due to increasing shortages of skilled field laborers because of immigration reform and other factors
Posted on 07/03/2012 5:24:41 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
On more than 10,000 acres of drained swampland in western New York, Maureen Torrey’s family farm grows an assortment of vegetables in the dark, nutrient-rich soil known as “Elba muck.” Like other farms in the area, Torrey Farms Inc. of Elba, N.Y., depends on seasonal labor, mainly undocumented field hands from Mexico, to pick, package and ship its cabbage, cucumbers, squash, green beans and onions throughout the nation.
With the peak harvest season at hand, Torrey’s concerns about a labor shortage are growing. A crackdown on illegal immigration, more job opportunities in Mexico and rising fees charged by smugglers are reducing the number of workers who cross the U.S. border illegally each year to help make up more than 60 percent of U.S. farmworkers.
The American Farm Bureau Federation projects $5 billion to $9 billion in annual produce-industry losses because of the labor shortages, which have become commonplace for farmers such as Torrey, who said there were 10 applicants for every job five years ago.
“In the last year that wasn’t the case,” she said. “We hired anybody that showed up for field work. It’ll be interesting to see how many people we have knocking on the door this year.”
With the cherry harvest under way in south-central Washington state, the Sage Bluff farmworker housing compound in Malaga is only half full, with nowhere near the 270 workers it can accommodate.
“I would say we’re significantly short,” said Jesse Lane, the housing manager for the Washington Growers League, which runs Sage Bluff. “I had a grower contact me who said he only had 20 pickers and he needed over a hundred.”
In California, farmers are reporting labor shortages of 30 percent to 40 percent, said Bryan Little, the director of labor affairs for the California Farm Bureau Federation.
(Excerpt) Read more at mcclatchydc.com ...
The solution:
End welfare.
Voila.
And, what is the "unemployment rate" for california these days?
Welfare in New York pays better and is easier work.
The legal program does work. Many of the farmers use it, but are undercut by those who don’t. These farmers need to mechanize, shift crops, raise pay..in short adapt just like the rest of us.
We’ll see how hungry the people living in this country have to get before they get off their @$$es and get out there and pick that stuff. Relying on Mexican Nationals to do it seems a little racist to me.
My goodness, We got you the first time. Did you have to post it 4 times???
Well too bad... they can do what farmers did when I was kid - hire local teens. Farmers and ranchers hired me, and I loved the pay. This farm could pay locals the same wages they paid illegals (or a bit more) - and they would quite likely have all the laborers they need.
There’s a labor shortage because welfare/food stamps/public housing pays better than farm wages.
There are enough able bodied deadbeats drawing welfare benefits to pick every damned pea in the world!
Excellent point.
Perhaps they are not coming for jobs but for........
Back in the 80’s a large scale farm operation where I lived used to swing a deal with a village in Mexico. The farmer provided assistance with getting the paperwork for temporary visas, provided the transportation and housing in return for more than enough workers for an entire season.
The villagers liked it because they got to work together for wages far better than could be had in Mexico at the time.
I suggest the traitorous bastards who hire illegals advertise these jobs for Americans.
Lazy farm industry. In every “advanced nation” but the U.S. “labor saving” investments have reduced farm labor demand much greater than has happened in the U.S.
The call that U.S. farming is in dire need of more labor is actually a call that U.S. farming wants to continue receiving regular doses of cheap immigrant labor and stave off making the capital investments other nation’s farmers have made.
12.7 million unemployed as of June 1.
Hispanic unemployment rate 11%+
Black youth, over 16%
Amazing, isn't it? This country has made unemployment a lucrative alternative to working. While, at the same time, it advocates importing foreign labor to do the "dirty" work. Maybe if we started requiring labor for welfare, things might at least start to turn around.
Maybe if the federal and state governments stopped paying able bodied young men and women to stay home, do drugs, fornicate, have babies and play video games?
Nah - that would never work.....
How can a socialized American society survive with only 13 million unemployed?
Exactly.
Gawrsh, maybe the artificially depressed wages will have to rise!
They’re all at the parking lot of Home Depot.
I had a new roof put on a few months back. The crew was entirely Mexicans and Guatemalans. I have no idea if they were legal or not, but not one of them spoke English. They worked their tails off though, and did a great job.
These guys know how to work. Our yoots know how to play video games, complain, and wait for what is “entitled” them. Thanks to the welfare state, we’re soft, and our kids are soft. And we’re not willing to do the hard work necessary to maintain a society.
(of hunger.)
These growers should check out this new free market principle I’ve been hearing about. Its called supply and demand.
Just what I was thinking. Empty the welfare roles and then they can import labor. All that happens is we subsidize their salaries through medical, foodstamps and other services.
If you somehow could get the parasitic class to work on a farm, they would quickly develop “back pain” or something and then go on disability to get more welfare. The subclass of human parasites is quite a problem.
The other solution is to adapt and buy technology that allows you to do the work with less workers and pay the rest better wages, as they will be skilled laborers and deserving of better pay.
so this woman admits she hires illegals...nice she admits the lawbreaking
What nobody is either noticing or discussing is the large number of LEGAL IMMIGRANTS who are going home due to the lack of work in America.
Our house cleaners are legal as are their parents. Their parents have returned to Mexico.
They discuss in detail, how widespread this is.
The company that I worked for tried the H2A program for several years. It was a disaster without going into the details. It was a real pain and costly because of the fines for picky crap.
The company that I worked for tried the H2A program for several years. It was a disaster without going into the details. It was a real pain and costly because of the fines for picky crap.
I really don't see a problem with that (although it does seem that Guest Worker has become toxic). If Americans are too dang lazy to do that work why not have a company hire Mexicans willing to do the work, bus them up here, and bring them back after the work is done? Perhaps it would be wise though to have a "half up front, half when you go back" payment plan to ensure everyone got on the bus back.
They have to leave before they can return!
How can we miss them if they won’t leave?
Vegetables labor is 35 cents on the dollar. Lets say the cost of using domestic labor is 50% higher, or 17 1/2 cents. So a dollar’s worth of veggies now costs $1.17. No law breaking, no riff raff no importing socialists. I say a good deal all around.
That’s right, the open borders liars have sworn up and down for years that the illegals just can not get welfare...well, then it was discovered that Obama’s Aunt Zetuni was living in Boston on subsidized housing. The Democrats want as many people as possible on welfare wether they have a right to be in this country or not.
I'm guessing you have no interaction with current "local teens."
End EBT and welfare, seal the border, and tell employers that if they can’t find labor, then they aren’t paying enough.
Skilled farm labor = illegal aliens working under the table.
No unemployed Americans will apply because they cost farm employers too much [no hires] and welfare pays better.
The Maine potato growers would hire schoolkids to pick potatoes. I went to school with a girl from Maine who used to talk about it. Probably the Democrats did something to muck it up due to their devious plans. Who knows, maybe the farm labor organizer Chavez didn’t like it.
The Democrats stopped development of fruit and vegetable picking machinery at the University of California at Davis because they wanted to save the jobs for the Mexican farm laborers, so who knows what else they may have done to stop sensible solutions for farming needs. Vdare.com has an article about this in their archives.
Be careful! My comment got removed for saying almost the exact same thing!
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