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To: rb22982
Not for $6-8/hr or less. At $15-$20 though, you could get legit labor.

Not necessarily.

We would be classified as a "small farm" and have paid seasonal labor $15 an hr for the past 3 years, $13 before that. No way possible to pay unskilled labor $20 and hr. and still make a profit. Every year it's increasingly difficult to find workers, much less reliable ones. We hear the same story from all the producers. Anybody that wants a full time job, has one. The workforce that's left has all sorts of reasons for not working, I suspect just not wanting to and being able to live off of someone in the family who does work.

We hire no illegals, and have never gotten a government subsidy of any kind. The Chinese tariff on our product was 22% which has been raised to 47%. Probably a third to a half of our crop has gone to China the past few years. We await to see if that kills their market. If it does, I doubt the American consumer can/will take up the slack. If a glut develops and prices fall below production cost then it'll be a "lost" year.

That said....I support what the President is doing. Something had to be done about the trade imbalance and unfair practices.

106 posted on 07/12/2018 7:17:56 AM PDT by Texan
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To: Texan
If other farms had no illegal immigrants, the price of food would be higher and you make a profit at $20/hr. Seasonal/PT employees are never as good as FT employees no matter how much you pay them. Motivation, turnover, and output are all significantly higher for FT employees than season/PT.

Whether or not you receive a direct subsidy as farmer, you indirectly benefit from food stamps.

113 posted on 07/12/2018 7:27:01 AM PDT by rb22982
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