US Crops Left To Rot As Mexicans Leave The Fields For Better-Paid Jobs

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 2-4-2006 | Dan Glasiter

[blam]

US crops left to rot as Mexicans leave the fields for better-paid jobs

Low pay, harsh conditions and security checks force immigrant workers into other sectors

Dan Glaister in Calexico
Saturday February 4, 2006
The Guardian (UK)

Standing in the early morning darkness just 50 metres inside the United States, Roberto Camacho is doing his best to ward off the cold. Dressed in a black bomber jacket with a baseball cap pulled low over his brow, he shuffles from foot to foot as he waits for a lift to work.

After 15 years working in the fields of California for American farmers, Mr Camacho has found a new life: two months ago he started working at the Golden Acorn Casino.

"It pays better," he says. "In the fields you work all hours, it's cold and hard and you don't get more than $7 [about £4] an hour. With this job I have regular hours, I know when I'm going to work and I know what I'm going to earn." Mr Camacho is not unique. Agricultural labourers, almost exclusively Latinos and at least two-thirds of them undocumented, are moving into more stable, less harsh employment.

The migration from agriculture is taking its toll on one of the largest industries in the US - and particularly on California's $32bn a year sector. Faced with an exodus of labour to the construction industry as well as to the leisure and retail sectors, farmers are struggling to get their crops in. Ten percent of the cauliflower and broccoli harvest has been left to rot this year, and some estimates put the likely loss of the winter harvest as high as 50%.

[TheForceOfOne]

Der takin' ur jerbs! (Southpark)

Seriously though, I saw this show on the History Channel, it was pretty good if you catch it on sometime.

Modern Marvels: Farming Technology

From the field to the table, FARMING TECHNOLOGY follows the journey of food produced on a modern, "big ag" farm to illustrate how far farming has come from its traditional roots. From the controversial use—but undeniable impact—of genetically engineered seeds to the $100,000 machines that can do more work in a day than an army of workers could accomplish in a week.

[oceanview]

no, its time to bring in machines.

[Fishing-guy]

Machines that can pick delicate fruits like strawberries without damaging them. Now, that's something I would like to see.

[brownsfan]

"I see alot of freepers cheering when united airlines workers lose their pensions, then after coming out of bankruptcy, the top execs set aside 100+ million dollars for themselves, and no one says a word. "

Actually, they have lots to say. Many freepers love that. They think management can't be rewarded enough, even if it augers the company right into the ground.

Over the Christmas Holiday I noted that most of us see "A Christmas Carol" as a story of hope and redemption. Some freepers see it as a sad story about the persecution of a good businessman.

[ovrtaxt]

And the Irish who were worked to death in northern sweatshops didn't allow the north to fall behind?

That was just a more efficient version of slavery...

[brownsfan]

Excellent. Well done.

[B4Ranch]

We'll mechanize and keep them. Any bets?

[hedgie]

Every go strawberry picking? You still need human hands for that one.

[Lurker]

It sounds like La Migra needs to pay a little visit to the Golden Acorn Casino to arrest and deport this clown. Then they can fine the living crap out of the owners.

L

[SC33]

A guestworker program is one thing, the issue is what type of guestworker program. I suppose I would support a plan that was truly TEMPORARY, and had no path to citizenship, ie. forced the workers to return home after their temporary visa expired. This seems to be the major difference between the McCain/Kennedy amnesty, and the Kyl/Cornyn plan. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not sold on Kyl/Cornyn, mostly because I fear it will not be enforced(with good reason), but it is a hell of alot better than another mass amnesty.

[Tammy8]

Read the article carefully, it says the illegals are no longer willing to do the job because they can get better jobs. Guest workers would also want better jobs don't you think?

Unless you are willing to return to slavery in this country there is no way to force anyone to pick crops. Agriculture will have to do what other businesses do when they can't find workers, raise wages, and create better working conditions, or automate. Illegal workers in the fields is what caused the wages to be low, and conditions to be harsh to begin with. Many americans did work in agriculture until the wages were driven down by illegals.

Now illegals in large numbers are moving into other jobs and competing with citizens, which is causing those wages to stagnate and the working conditions to deteriorate.

It will take many different steps to solve the problems of the border chaos and illegal immigration, there is no magic cure, but I can't see for the life of me how a guest worker program could possibly help. If one is needed at all it needs to be the last step, not the first in solving border issues.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

We have always been at war with Oceana.

[lainie]

Hey, how do these dudes get jobs in casinos without TINs? The "sovereign" territories don't require them? Maybe I should go get me a job over there.

[oceanview]

until someone invests to develop the technology, we won't know. it sounds like a machine that used vacuum suction to pick a delicate fruit might be a place to start. and its trivially easy to pick out a red colored object on a plant using a digital video camera and basic image processing software.

[little jeremiah]

This wasn't mentioned on the thread. Used to be, kids - teeenagers - picked crops. Were happy to earn the money. Either family kids or other kids. Now it is very hard or impossible to hire young teenagers.

This would go a long way towards solving the problem. But a lot of kids now don't want to do any hard work but want thousands of dollars of expensive clothes and gear.

I see it as a civilization in decline. Not much can turn the tide. If somehow or other no one can harvest food, all bets are off.

[SC33]

It may still be possible to get kids and teenagers to do these jobs, but not for under minimum wage, which is what illegals take in many cases. To be honest, I can't really blame these kids for not taking these jobs unless they are going to make min. wage.

[posterchild]

I agree. We need to fix our attitudes towards labor first. Growing up in a then rural area I enjoyed my manual labor jobs. I knew it wasn't my future but a temporary adventure. Harvesting tobacco was brutally hard labor but it really got me pumped - something I occasionally think about as I slump behind my computer at work for 10 hour stretches these days. Washing dishes in restaurants was good honest labor and looking back on it I had alot of fun also. These were great jobs for someone growing up and in High School. I wonder how deep our cultural shift is.

[hinckley buzzard]

No amnesty. No "guestworker" program.

How does anyone seriously think they will force migrants to return home to squalor after having lived in the US for some years? Do they imagine the people will just line up and go quietly back south of the border? This is an infantile fantasy, and as Germany discovered, hordes of guest-workers both do not assimilate and do not ever leave.

The only solution is the obvious one, enforce the laws and secure the borders. They won't ever be 100% watertight, but so what. It could be ten times better than it has been.

[SC33]

I can agree with that. My only point is, I think our elites have pretty much made the decision for us. So, if we are going to get a geustworker program, I would prefer it be Kyl/Cornyn, which I believe has serious enforcement provisions to be met before the worker aspect goes into effect.

McKennedy is amnesty, and a terrible idea.

[hinckley buzzard]

To be honest, I can't really blame these kids for not taking these jobs unless they are going to make min. wage.

I agree. And the flip side to the solution of agro jobs without illegals is to let wages seek their own level until willing workers turn out. If that means a big price rise for food, so be it. Food in America is a dirt cheap commodity anyway.