High-anxiety grape season (Late crops, so-so yields and possibility of farmworker shortage)

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT ^ | September 13, 2006 | TIM TESCONI

[sure_fine]

thats going to hurt the Pelosi's bad

[Pearls Before Swine]

I'd be happy to pay more for my grapes and less for the welfare of people whose allegiance lies elsewhere. I'd be happy to pay more for my grapes and find the emergency rooms unclogged by illegals getting freebies. I'd be happy to pay more for my grapes and not feel like a foreigner at the local BJ's Wholesale store.

[BipolarBob]

I'd be happy to pay more for my grapes and not feel like a foreigner at the local BJ's Wholesale store.

Look at the bright side. If you are not already a minority, you soon will be.

[Chode]

not a problem here, i have yet to see or hear of mexkins pickin grapes here in NY...

[kaktuskid]

More than likely you'd have foreign-grown grapes in the store instead.

[hunter112]

If it weren't for illegal labor, machines would be doing most of the work of farming right now. May that day come sooner rather than later.

[sheana]

You would thing that with 12 million (govt estimates) illegals here there would be some grape workers. Jobs illegals won't do?

[Wayne07]

the jobs we are fighting for are grape pickers?

[stephenjohnbanker]

B T T T

[calcowgirl]

You would thing that with 12 million (govt estimates) illegals here there would be some grape workers.

I agree. The numbers just don't add up. They need a couple thousand workers for a month or two. That is not a staggering amount of money. I've seen statistics that say approximately 2% of illegals work in agriculture. It seems that the pay level is the issue. Pay a few more bucks an hour and they would have no shortage.

Jobs illegals won't do?

LOL! Good one! It has come to that. As long as they can find jobs elsewhere that pay more, they will go.

[stephenjohnbanker]

Crying towel, please? : )

[seasoned traditionalist]

Growers predict that if the workers don't come, more grapes will be harvested by machines this year than in the past. The message is clear: The region's $900 million wine grape crop will be harvested somehow, some way.

"We bought a machine. There is a way, and we will get the grapes in," said Rich Schaefers, general manager of the Mendocino Vineyard Co.

AM I MISSING SOMETHING HERE?????

For a wine lover, I have a difficult time feeling sorry for Mendocino Vineyards or anyone else who relies on "ILLEGAL ALIENS" for their labor.

I have read many article on how the advances in technology has made it possible for ALMOST all crops to be harvested by machines.

So, the question remains, WHY are no more agricultural businesses just biting the bullet and buying machines?

Can anyone spell the word "M I S E R L Y," or "G R E E D Y?"

[kaehurowing]

Nobody mentions why harvest is late, which is an exceptionally cool August.

I'm sure it must be the result of global warming somehow . . . I'll have to ask Al Gore next time I see him.

[calcowgirl]

Crying towel, please? : )

Here ya go...

[gaussia]

I wonder why Australian wine tends to be lower in price here in California than wine produced in California, but Australian wine has to be shipped across the planet and they've got NO ILLEGALS to pick their grapes.

[fantom]

Exactly. More wineing from the open border pimps. Invest in modern techniques , or get out of the biz. When these out of date management tools fail , someone will step in and do it right.

[calcowgirl]

I wonder why Australian wine tends to be lower in price here in California than wine produced in California...

Cuz they don't put a zillion percentage profit on top of their cost? Just one possibility. ;-)

[garandgal]

One evening earlier this year, I happened to be watching the Fine Living Channel. They did a show on a big benefit auction that the California wineries put on every year (rich people fly in from all over the country for this, apparently).

Anyway, the beneficiary of last years auction proceeds was a county "free clinic." They actually interviewed the owner of one of the wineries (who was in charge of the auction); and he said "many of the vineyard employees can't afford health insurance."

As if HE had nothing to do with it! It was surreal...a bunch of employers holding a benefit to "kick in" a little towards their illegal employees' health care; of course it's perfectly fine with them that the taxpayers pick up the rest of the tab.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

The grape crop is late, yields are down, birds are a terrible problem and there are looming fears there won't be enough laborers to pick the crop.

Farmers are either going to have to mechanize, hire domestic workers, or find another business to get into. We can no longer afford their cheap labor and the more they they whine the more attention they draw to the enormous damage illegal immigration is doing to this country.