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.
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