In Florida Groves, Cheap Labor Means Machines

The New York Times ^ | March 22, 2004 | EDUARDO PORTER

[prion]

But as globalization creeps into the groves, it is threatening to displace the workers.

So what? It's not like they're American workers.

[sarcasm]

Mechanization will cut the demand for illegal aliens - great news

[Odyssey-x]

"The cheap labor," he said, "isn't cheap enough."

That says it all in my opinion.

[ikka]

Robots growing our food and then picking it for us! Is the future gonna be great or what? Though I will become even more of a lard@$$ than I am now, I am afraid...

[AAABEST]

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[DumpsterDiver]

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[q_an_a]

stop stop you can't make that kind of reasoned post.

who are these displaced workers? wait, who builds these machines? how come it took growers 30 years to do what the almond business has been doing? is it because the cheap labor here was not necessary until now? growers could have been using these machines and making other improvements to keep their competition at bay, but they wait till they are nearly dead to take action. it is a common story ask the folks at BIG STEEL.

[FITZ]

in 1980, President Jimmy Carter's agriculture secretary, Bob Bergland, declared that the government would no longer finance research projects intended to replace "an adequate and willing work force with machines."

Attitudes like this are one of the reasons Mexico is in the mess it's in --- machines are what makes cheap labor --- Mexican farms have far cheaper labor than US farms --- an illegal who makes $3 an hour here might make that in one day in Mexico but still their farms are going bankrupt.

[Mamzelle]

Wonder what company manufactures these machines....? Kaching.

[Moonman62]

If it weren't for the federal government, food would be so affordable that we wouldn't need all the food stamp and lunch programs, and our "poor" people would be even fatter.

[Moonman62]

Canopy shakers are still an unusual sight in Florida's orange groves. Most of the crop is harvested by hand, mainly by illegal Mexican immigrants.

Be still my heart. The NYTimes actually used the term "illegal." The editors must have been out campaigning for Kerry.

[TheRightGuy]

And what's more, the machine's won't try to boycott the growers that use them.

The "COALITION OF IMMOKALEE WORKERS" (CIW) is notorious for its boycott against Taco Bell because one of Taco Bell's tomato growers in Florida is allegedly taking advantage of illegal alien laborers. A link to the CIW website, and links therefrom, make it quite clear CIW is sponsored by the socialists. They have received endorsements from several "mainstream" protestant denominations that have been hijacked by the Christian Left.

[Chewbacca]

"About 45 vegetable and fruit crops planted over 3.6 million acres of land, and worth about $13 billion at the farm gate, are still harvested by hand, by a labor force made up mostly of illegal immigrants."


I wish they would provide a list of these 45 vegetables, so the engineers in this country can get to work designing ways to mechanize their harvesting. What a great way to remove the illegals from entering this country. Just eliminate their jobs and reason for being here. The free market provides if government would get its corrupting hands off.

[1rudeboy]

Mechanical Harvester Manufacturers

Coe Orchard Equipment Inc. 3453 Rivieria Rd. Live Oak, CA 95953 530-695-5121 Coe-Collier Citrus Harvesting LLP 1320 N. 15th St. Immokalee, FL 34142 941-658-6074 Compton Enterprises 2434 Dayton Rd. Chico, CA 95928 530-895-1942 Crunkelton Enterprises 306 N. Ruth Rd. Avon Park, FL 33825 863-453-4743 FMC Corporation P.O. Box 1708 Lakeland, FL 33802 863-683-5411

Kennco Manufacturing Inc. P.O. Box 1158 Ruskin, FL 33570 800-645-2591 Korvan Industries Inc. 270 Birch Bay Lynden Rd. Lynden, WA 98264 360-354-1500 Mongoose Harvesting Systems 4348 SW Hull Ave. Arcadia, FL 34266 863-494-1222 OXBO International Corporation 7275 Batvia-Bryon Rd. Bryon, NY 14422 716-548-2665 Stackhouse Brothers Harvesting 13501 Cogswell Rd. Hickman, CA 95323 209-883-2663

[Libertarianize the GOP]

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[HiJinx]

Too flippin' cool! The last wave of cost-saving measures - namely, illegal aliens - will fall to the next.

How long before this hits the factories? I remember a story last month about illegals in a plastics plant....

[Klickitat]

BTTT

[Tribune7]

I remember some techie saying the goal is 0 percent employment. I liked it.

[longtermmemmory]

So even while President Bush advances a plan to invite legal guest workers into American fields, farmers for the first time in a generation are working to replace hand laborers with machines.

Where have these reporters been?
This has been succefully going on for decades.
Ask the sugar cane growers.

It would be a sweet deal to continue fortifying the border as we
lower the need for unskilled agriculture labor.
Bring on the robots.