Posted on 08/31/2013 3:48:56 AM PDT by iowamark
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack held a forum in Des Moines this morning to discuss immigration reform.
“Agriculture depends to a great extent on immigrant labor,” Vilsack said. “…The sad reality in America today is that there are farmers throughout the United States who are now making decisions not to harvest what they planted because they simply do not have enough hands to conduct the harvest.”
Under the immigration reform bill that cleared the Senate, Vilsack’s agency has the authority to help manage the labor supply for U.S. farms by approving more “guest worker” applications.
The USDA today projected both agricultural exports and net farm income will set records in 2013.
“That’s obviously positive news for producers and for people who are associated and connected to agricultural trade,” Vilsack said. “But there are some serious challenges to the future of American agriculture and two of those challenges require congressional action.”
The first is passage of a five-year Farm Bill and the second, according to Vilsack, is passage of comprehensive immigration reform.
Wendy Wintersteen, dean of Iowa State University’s College of Agriculture who was one of four panelists, said her school has difficulty in getting green cards for the “best and brightest” they hire from another country to serve on the ISU faculty.
“Right now immigration is just now accepting adjustment of status applications from our junior faculty members born in China whose immigrant petitions were approved in February of 2008 — so five years later,” Wintersteen said. “And so in that time period there’s doubt, there’s concern, there’s other paperwork that has to be maintained and updated.”
According to Wintersteen, Iowa State University IT specialists who were born in India have been waiting for nearly 11 years to have their green card applications approved. An executive from Pioneer, the head of the state’s largest chamber of commerce and an Iowa dairy farmer also spoke at the forum.
Farmers historically are the hardest workers in our culture. Been there, done that. Real farmers do not need to exploit wetbacks to earn a living!
I went to the grocery store the other day and saw fruits and vegetables from various countries.
Yep, farmers live hard word every day. A simple solution is to have every able bodied person who collects welfare to report to the nearest farm to work for their welfare money. Those who don’t report, lose the money. At least that’s how I’d fix the “labor shortage” issue.
I’d rather eat dirt than allow illegal invading mexicans to become super citizens... they neither deserve it or will appreciate the greatness of being a citizen... and it is BECAUSE they broke our laws and came here that causes that to be reality... screw anyone that is in favor of destroying our culture and American exceptionalism... you just want cheap labor that is subsidized by communist redistribution. Go to hell all that put wealth and power over righteousness and lawfulness!
or=nor
A simple solution is to have every able bodied person who collects welfare to report to the nearest farm to work for their welfare money. Those who don’t report, lose the money. At least that’s how I’d fix the “labor shortage” issue.
More common sense than the majority of our so called representatives.
“Vilsack says stalled immigration reform “serious challenge to future” of agriculture”
Necessity is the mother of invention.
In the past, farmers invented a multitude of devices that increased productivity and lowered costs. What’s stopping them now?
I was thinking the same thing. How can we have a shortage of farm workers when there is massive unemployment and people on welfare?
But we all know why this is....... it's all part of the socialist plan to buy votes, corral the masses in the cities for easier control, and create a perceived need for massive immigration of more dependent Democrat voters.
Vilsack doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
they don’t need an amnesty program - only the old fashioned temporary (seasonal) work permit
In short, I'm not sure farmers would be able to use them.
Accepting Vilsack’s lies as though they were truths for the sake of argument, I’d still rather import food than import Dhimm voting, welfare sucking immigrants.
1. True. You would have to do something to adjust the unemployment pay outs as well. I wouldn’t insist on raising food prices or farm wages, but if the market demands it, then let the market rule.
2. Sure, but if their welfare is cut unless they work on a farm, then they would just have to do what feeds them.
3. It’s not that they are “unable” to relocate, it’s that don’t want to and haven’t been forced to relocate. If relocating meant that they could feed themselves or their family, then they will do it. Some of my ancestors came over to America because they couldn’t feed themselves in their home land. It’s possible to relocate. It’s not impossible.
4. True again, but a lot of that would disappear when they saw the complainers and slackers getting less or no food for their production or lack of it.
Of course I don’t expect any of this common sense approach to these problems because it would take tough love, a back bone and balls to implement it and I know that most of Washington has no idea what those things are.
Agreed.
No, that’s what lunatic communist countries have done, treating people like herds of forced labor that they can move en masse at whim. Didn’t turn out so well in China, Cambodia, Cuba and Russia.
that’s what lunatic communist countries have done, treating people like herds of forced labor that they can move en masse at whim. Didn’t turn out so well in China, Cambodia, Cuba and Russia.
Remember what Al Gore said - "People are fungible."
You and I both know the problem with that. Those people couldn't vote Democrat. This is all about importing 50-100 million new Democrat voters.
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