Posted on 07/08/2013 12:05:22 PM PDT by mdittmar
ATWOOD, Mich. (AP) — For northern Michigan fruit grower Pat McGuire, the most potent symbol of the immigration debate isn't grainy television footage showing people slipping furtively across the U.S.-Mexican border. Instead, it's plump red cherries and crisp apples rotting on the ground because there aren't enough workers to pick them — a scenario that could become reality over the next couple of months.
Across the state's orchard belt, cherry trees already sag under the weight of bright-red clusters, yet many trailers and wood-frame cottages that should be bustling with migrant families stand empty. McGuire is waiting to hear whether crews will show up to pick his crop in mid-July.
"We're running out of time," he said, pulling aside leafy branches to inspect his ripening fruit on gently sloping hillsides a mile inland from Lake Michigan.
From Christmas tree growers in the Appalachians to Wisconsin dairy farmers and producers of California's diverse abundance of fruits and vegetables, agricultural leaders are pleading with Congress for an immigration bill that includes more lenient and less complex rules for hiring farm workers.
A measure that recently cleared the Democratic-led Senate contained provisions that the farm lobby said were promising. The Republican-controlled House is expected to take up the issue shortly. But with agriculture's once-mighty political influence in decline as its workforce has fallen to 2 percent of the population, it's uncertain how the industry will fare. Farmers' complaints about a shrinking labor pool are being overshadowed by the ideologically charged issues of border security and giving legal status to people in the country illegally.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
How many people does this guy need to pick his crops?
Thirty days of apple picking for every 6 months on Food Stamps. Works for me.
I wonder why someone does not ask McGuire where all his pickers
that have picked his cherries in the past.
We all know where they are, including McGuire.
They have moved up the food chain to take jobs Americans
will do.
A projection that U.S. farmers will make a record profit amid the worst drought in more than five decades shows that government help for producers can be scaled back, critics say.
Maybe farmers would have better luck finding workers if they paid a market clearing wage. Supply and demand applies to labor, too.
Just like clockwork.....Here come the stories about “Fruit rotting on the ground”, Yes, the illegals always come here to ONLY pick fruit and not undercut other job classifications, i.e., construction, janitorial. Go mechanical harvest. It is cheaper in the long run.
Oh, shoot, all we gotta do is put all those people on the path to citizenship and welfare goodness, and those orchards will fill right up!
HEY GROWERS: Got a weird idea. How about hiring some Americans? America’s colleges just emptied out, plenty of youth just sitting around, doing nothing, and tons of hands to pick your fruit.
Isn’t unemployment among the Yutes in places like Detroit and Flint well above 50%?
Problem, meet Solution.
Something like 1% of the illegal immigrants participate in the agriculture work of harvesting crops. The vast majority live in the large cities getting taxpayer funded handouts.
This could be handled legally if Congress would allow more H1B and H2B visas for seasonal workers. However, the labor unions are opposed to more of these being issued so the increase in the new immigration bill is only a token one.
Working a good outdoor job from daylight to dark would definitely not hurt most of the under 21 crowd I see.
Last year we put the “migrants” on welfare due to the lack of crops. What happened to them?
That farmer always has the choices of actually taking on citizens and/or automating parts of the process - instead of acting like he is entitled to having monopsony power instead of having to compete with other providers of labor.
As for the farmer’s claims to a shrinking labor pool - the labor participation rate would say otherwise.
Basic law of Supply and Demand. When the illegals become legal, and the farmers have to pay a "living wage," then the price of fruits will go up, and consumer demand will go down. End result: Bankrupt farmers and unemployed newly minted US citizens!
EXACTLY! Now they have had time to have a free legal baby and leech off the system from a couple of pickin’ years, she’s not been able to find the next wave.
I want more details...!!
“... for the non-reported, non-taxed, pennies-on-the-dollar wage she is used to paying... “
Exactly.
Think of all the Golf Courses that will be turning brown,and all the lawns not getting mowed,the horror,the horror.
I believe there are already special permits for this seasonal work, besides.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.