[carcraft]

One other point, My son in laws family farm has trouble competing against big agri business because of illegals and thier cheap labor. The farmer doesn’t hire the illegals, they have a “business” agent who contracts with the farmer. The “business” agent then produces the required bodies. The farmer then pays the business agent who takes a cut then pays the workers. The illegals never actually work for the farmer but for the “business” agent who contracts with the farmer. I really think this story is pure 100 % Cee B*ll Sh*t!

[La Enchiladita]

The farmer doesn’t hire the illegals, they have a “business” agent who contracts with the farmer.

Thanks for the reminder. I now recall hearing this before. In fact, some of these large food businesses --- like the meat processing and packing plants --- have a hot line to villages in Mexico, where they order up the numbers of peons they need in the fields. Yeah, I think there's a lot of BS in this story which also features one of the illegals with tears running down her cheeks, etc.

One of these agribusiness guys was interviewed in NPR this morning and used scare tactics, as in, if we can't get people to work our fields then food will be raised in other countries and we'll only have imports, etc. These guys will do anything to keep their feudal system going, even bringing down the U.S.A.

[Texan]

competing against big agri business because of illegals and thier cheap labor. The farmer doesn’t hire the illegals, they have a “business” agent who contracts with the farmer. The “business” agent then produces the required bodies. The farmer then pays the business agent who takes a cut then pays the workers. The illegals never actually work for the farmer but for the “business” agent who contracts with the farmer.

This is true, The big operations hire labor contractors, well because they're BIG and need a lot of labor and need that labor to be there at exactly the time they need it. Otherwise a year's investment and work will be lost. Labor contractors don't bother with little operators. Why should they when nationwide, farm labor is so scarce. It's more profitable to take a crew to a big operation and stay a while instead of moving every day. And it's NOT cheap. Labor contractors are regulated by the government just like almost everything is.