Posted on 11/09/2011 8:12:31 AM PST by bkopto
Apple growers say they could have had one of their best years ever if a shortage of workers hadn't forced them to leave some fruit on trees.
Growers in Washington state, which produces about half of the nation's apples, say the labor shortage was made worse by a late start to their harvest. The growing season got off to a slow start because of a cold, wet spring, and some migrant workers didn't stick around to wait for it.
But farmers say an immigration crackdown by the federal government and states such as Arizona and Alabama scared off many more workers. They have tried to replace them with domestic workers with little success and inmates at a much greater cost. Many growers have resorted to posting "pickers wanted" signs outside their orchards and asking neighbors to send prospective workers their way.
SNIP
About 15 billion apples are picked in Washington each year, all by hand. Orchards line the hillsides and valleys east of the Cascade Range from the Canadian border in the north to the Columbia River in the south.
Growers have struggled for years with labor shortages, but they say this harvest season is one of the toughest yet. Typically, about 70 percent of the state's farmworkers are in the country illegally. But many Mexican and other migrant workers stayed away this year after some states passed tougher immigration laws and the federal government cracked down.
"We've been dealing with this for a number of years now, and until something changes at the federal level, growers are going to struggle having enough workers," said Mike Gempler, a farm labor contractor for Washington growers.
(Excerpt) Read more at columbian.com ...
When I was a boy in the now far-distant seventies, I used to pick apples for $1 an hour. So did all the other boys. The apples got picked, we got $10 or so in our pockets (a FORTUNE to a kid in 1979) and everybody was happy, even the kid that fell from the top (there was always one of those). The old farmer himself outdid all of us, though. He'd pick half an acre in the time it took the lot of us to do a tree. And he had full-size trees and no power equipment. No dwarf varieties or cherry pickers. Just a 70-year-old man with a huge bag full of apples climbing around in trees like a monkey.
I'm sure there are reasons why this sort of thing can't happen today. Dillution of the stock comes immediately to mind.
Used to be teenagers would do this. Probably some federal rule prevents it now.
The growers simply refuse to pay what the labor market demands.
A product whose price has risen above what the consumer will pay for it IS NO EXCUSE FOR BREAKING THE LAW!
Who will pay for all those people to get moved and have places to live when they get shipped to the labor farms?
Maybe it really is better to have people that actually want to work, working on our food supplies.
We were in Leavenworth, Washington this past summer. We saw plenty of what appeared to be fruit picker families.
What happens if you ship these people out there, set them up with a place to live, and then they go out and pick 4 apples and fall down saying they can’t work anymore, or they get pregnant or just don’t go to work?
I completely agree with you. Good ideas!
How is that very different than paying illegals?
That’s exactly what would happen. Few people are actually physically and mentally (attitude) fit to pick apples. Most Americans who could/would do a satisfactory job are already employed.
No welfare checks as long as there's work available. If they try to play the "lazy cards", let them go homeless and hungry for a while. When they get hungry enough, they'll get back to work.
If they want lawsuits, make them responsible for the legal fees if they lose. This country is way overdue for tort reform any way. This is a good excuse to bring the issue up for a vote.
The only way to help these dependent people join the human race (and free the tax slaves) is tough love. Someone has to do it, or it'll never get done. They'll be a plague on society forever, and that plague will continue to spread if it isn't ended somehow.
I believe this is why so many people secretly pray for an economic collapse. When there's no money left for welfare checks, these monkeys can't continue to ride on the tax payers backs anymore. They'll have to find work, get killed trying to steal, or starve. The country can learn from this socialist experiment mistake, and start over.
Totally unrealistic.
Hear, hear!! Bears much repeating.
It's called the "Minimum Wage."
I know. A large majority of welfare recipients are minority women with children and grandchildren. Take them out of their urban environments and send them to work in WA. I doubt anything would get picked.
First thing I thought of. When one farmer said, "We've been dealing with this for a number of years now,", all I could think of was - "and as long as you could depend upon cheap labor, there was no need for automation."
Granted, picking fruit is different from row crops, which by and large, can take rougher handling. Once our creative genius is turned loose, better machines than the ones I have seen will show up.
If their friends in the OWS movement can do it with nothing but the clothes on their backs, these people can do it too. They're all left wing. They can all work together as a team. They ARE demanding jobs, aren't they? Isn't this what the protesters are protesting for?
What govt is going to do that? Would you just ship them out to WA and if they don’t pick enough, just kick them out of their dwellings? I’m sure Washington state would like that.
If they had not geared their harvest method to using illegal immigrants, the harvest would have been gathered just fine. But because they paid under the table, when the illegal workers feared the laws being enforced, they had a lack of laborers.
I have NO sympathy. If apples cost more because Americans are being paid to pick them, thats fine with me. And I suspect fine with my country men who now have jobs I suspect.
Illegal immigrants suck social services dry. So the money the farmers save by hiring illegals under the table is stolen from the State, AND the worker. A legal immigrant cannot compete with an illegal immigrant, legal immigrants have to pay taxes.
It is hard enough for a legal immigrant to make it, we don’t need to stack the deck against them further by tossing in illegals.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.