A drought of farm labor

Christian Science Monitor ^ | 12/2/5 | Daniel B. Wood

[Crackingham]

Imperial Valley lettuce farmer Jack Vessey says it's the worst in his lifetime. Farther north in California's Central Valley, orange grower Manuel Cunha calls it the most constrained since before World War II. Coastal tomato grower Luwanna Holmstrom constantly worries about a repeat of two years ago, when she had to plow under $2.5 million in tomatoes left unpicked.

California and Arizona farmers - producers of half the nation's citrus and 90 percent of its vegetables and nuts - are struggling with an acute labor shortage. The situation, worsened by crackdowns on illegal immigration since 9/11, also extends to other states and is no longer just a matter of possible price increases on lettuce, oranges, or almonds, farmers say. Rather, it is a turning point in the nation's ability to produce its own food - and possibly the loss of major parts of its agriculture industry.

"We are trying to sound the alarm without being alarmist, but the situation has become extremely serious," says Tim Chelling of the Western Growers Association, whose members grow, pack, and ship half America's produce. "We are now talking of losing the production of key commodities to foreign competition. America's produce industry is facing a crisis."

Although the shortage was worsening before 9/11, it's now extreme, Mr. Chelling and the three California farmers say. Without an emergency guest-worker program, they will be dramatically short of the minimum number of workers needed to harvest the current crop. Without long-term immigration reform that acknowledges America's reliance on foreign workers, farmers will not be able to make ends meet, they say.

Mr. Cunha, for example, says Central Valley raisin growers need 50,500 pickers and have only 15,000. In the last harvest, $150 million to $300 million in grapes were ruined because they could not be picked and laid out to dry before the period of necessary seasonal sunlight passed. This year predictions are worse.

Mr. Vessey began harvesting romaine, iceberg, and red-leaf lettuce Tuesday. He was 200 workers short. "I lost $250,000 because of this problem last year," he says. "This year I am concerned I could go under completely. If I miss making my contracts with some of the big stores, they could look to China, Canada, Mexico, and elsewhere, and even if I recover my labor later, it may be too late."

Even before 9/11, other industries from construction to hotels, restaurants, and domestic services were luring workers away from the difficult and temporary work of harvesting. Increased border enforcement, which began a decade ago but has been ratcheted up since 2001, has further reduced the labor pool. In fact, by tripling the border patrol in recent years, the back-and-forth traffic of illegals has become so problematic that instead of returning to Mexico, many have moved farther into America's interior in search of full-time work - leaving seasonal agriculture work behind. This year, construction booms in the West and Midwest, hurricane reconstruction in Florida, and post- Katrina cleanup in the Gulf have siphoned off even more undocumented workers.

Higher wages would help, critics point out. "The problem is that the agricultural industry has come to expect that they will have exactly the workers they need when they need them and at the price they want them, but that is not the way the economy works," says Ira Mehlman of the Federation of American Immigration Reform.

Furthermore, America is not getting the cheap labor it expects from undocumented workers because of the unseen cost of $10.5 billion spent a year for health, education, and incarceration of such workers, he says. "If you started factoring in all the costs associated with these low-wage workers, you would realize the cost of a head of lettuce is prohibitive in this situation."

"You always hear the argument that if we just paid decent wages and made these jobs open to legal Americans that the jobs would be filled," says Cunha, president of the Nisei Farmers League. "We have found that to be completely not so."

Vessey says he offered $8.50 an hour but that some workers choosing to harvest "per carton" can average up to $12 per hour. But when he went recently to Imperial County's welfare and economic development department seeking 300 workers for the next day, only one showed up to his fields and left after half a day.

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

"... and nobody in the county should receive Unemployment or Welfare compensation for any days where any employer in the county has open positions for unskilled labor."

Now THERE is a damn good idea.

[cripplecreek]

It's just like paying for gas. It's called supply and demand all around.

[Marine Inspector]

I was speaking of the employers.

[DumpsterDiver]

This is other side of the story. If people don't want to work then what are these guys supposed to do?

These farmers are finding out the hardway that illegal aliens won't be picking their crops when they can get better work elsewhere for better wages.

Consider this their wake-up call to either start investing more in mechanization or to raise the wages.

They have no divine right to cheap labor nor do they have first dibs on every Mexican who illegally crosses that border.

[NC28203]

Higher wages may not attract much local labor because the term of employment is short. Most of the migrant laborers will spend short periods of time in a location moving up and down the coast harvesting different crops. People that are settled in an area are not likely to take up the migrant lifestyle despite the higher wage. Sounds like it is time for mechanization.

[Sterco]

Illegals to farmers " we don't to vegetables anymore, we do construction". "Pick your own damn vegetables".

[ChiefJayStrongbow]

Strategy:

- no illegals allowed ... Huge fine and huge award to the person that turns them in

- can bring in guest worker for short period of time But must post a bond of $200,000 per worker, to be forfeited if the guest worker does not leave the country when period expires. Employer must maintain minimum $1,000,000 liability insurance per guest worker and accepts all liability for guest worker

- Before an employer can hire a guest worker, they must advertise the open position and must post the position in the unemployment office. If a qualified citizen applies for the position, and the employer brings in a guest worker, than the employer can be sued by the citizen. Qualified citizens that are interested in the position but feel that the proposed compensation is too little may negotiate compensation with the prospective employer. If the employer elects to bring in a guest worker because they feel that the negotiated compensation is too onerous, then the employer may be sued. The burden, in all cases, resides with the employer.

- (Based on locale) Before a person receives unemployment, their capacity for performing different types of work will be evaluated. If an open position is posted with the unemployment office and none of the qualified people in the vicinity who are receiving unemployment step forward to take the job, then none of those qualified people will receive unemployment for that day.

Some employers may pay more but, as a country, we would receive benefits by lowering unemployment, enhancing our tax base, reducing illegal immigation and all the problems associated (crime, burden on school/hosptal costs, uninsured drivers, etc.). Also, if the cost to employers gets too high, we may develop high tech solutions for worker replacement which will lead to a wave of better paying high tech jobs.

[theBuckwheat]

Libs try to have it both ways. This is a formula for failure.

They seem to want almost unrestricted immigration of Mexicans, "doing jobs that American's don't want".

Yet, they complain about the low wages at Wal-Mart, or the "lack of jobs" that pay a "living wage".

What is ignored is the connection between a flood of low-skilled labor willing to take any job and how this depresses the wages employers are willing to pay.

If the US could control its borders and allow only a measured number of workers into the country, the simple law of supply and demand would cause wages to rise until people were attracted to the job. Otherwise the employer would find other ways to get the job done, such as through the use of capital and equipment.

Yes, some prices would rise. But our security is more important than having inexpensive lettuce on every burger. A side benefit of this would be more Americans with low skills would find jobs that paid enough to entice them out of the underground economy.

[taxed2death]

"I lost $250,000 because of this problem last year"


Obviously you are not offering to pay what the market will support. If your business model relies on hiring illegals and breaking the law, you shouldn't be in business.

[one more state]

Illegals to farmers " we don't to vegetables anymore, we do construction". "Pick your own damn vegetables".

I could not have said it better myself. When are these farmer going to learn. No one wants to pick cotton.

[jwpjr]

My brother-in-law is a 'farmer' with a master's degree in agriculture. He has assured me for years that there is nothing farmers would like more than a mechanical alternative to having real people harvest their crops. And they have it in a lot crops, like soybeans, cotton, etc. But when it comes to relatively delicate crops like tomatoes and strawberries there simply isn't an alternative. He points out that using robotics for things like making cars is pretty sensitive since the robotic device is doing EXACTLY the same thing, in the same place over and over and over. Even then, they manage to screw up and mess up a production run. There is no comparison between the controlled environment of an auto plant production floor and an open field of tomatoes in Florida or California.

The truth is we really don't know what effect drying up the supply of illegal labor would have on the various industries that are dependent on it. Even if you could find citizens willing to work for the relatively low wages of picking crops and willing to move from state to state several times a year, there are probably not enough of them to do the job.

The way to find out is to clamp down on the supply and see what happens. It probably won't be as bad, or as good, as either side predicts.

[mr_hammer]

Exactly!

Another thought, isn't this capitalism?

Oh, I see. Your business has to break the law to make a profit. Hell, anyone can do that. Just ask the 16 year old on the street corner selling crack how profitable breaking the law is.

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

"It's just like paying for gas. It's called supply and demand all around."

Lettuce is not as necessary for going about one's business as gasoline is. Above a certain (and most likely low) price, demand drops to zero.

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

"The way to find out is to clamp down on the supply and see what happens. It probably won't be as bad, or as good, as either side predicts."

One side effect that would be likely to happen is trigger a massive (and overdue) meltdown of the California real estate market, as some of the big REITs own many acres of farmland.

[rolling_stone]

mechanization
http://are.berkeley.edu/APMP/pubs/lmd/html/wintspring_99/LMD.8.1.transition.html

cost of labor for lettuce
about 7% of retail price 35% of production cost

[BurbankKarl]

And this morning the county issues a "WASH ALL LETTUCE" warning because people all over are getting hepatitis A

[gubamyster]

ping

[Mamzelle]

Maybe the "guest workers" have learned they can do better with illegal construction jobs.

[Nat Turner]

This is other side of the story. If people don't want to work then what are these guys supposed to do?

They got three choices

• Grow Less

• Raise Pay

• Use Machines

Gotta love capitalism

[jackbenimble]

We heard most of this whinging, whining and gnashing of teeth from the farmers back in 1965 when we ended the Bracero Program. They warned us about $5 tomatoes. What actually happened was that the tomato harvest was automated, productivity and production soared, the prices of tomatoes dropped and the American standard of living rose. Scarcity is the mother of invention and a high standard of living is very closely associated with high labor productivity. We don't need cheap labor; we need productive labor. Americans used to understand that. Now the only thing our business leaders seem to understand is pseudo-slave labor. I think if we catch these people with illegals in their workforce we should seize their assets and turn them over at auction to somebody with a business model that includes obeying the law.