We’re both in agriculture, and I agree wholeheartedly with what you said:
“The cost of labor in agriculture should be the same as it is in the rest of our economy: what legals and Americans are willing to do it for. That’s the free market. Period. End of story.”
The problem is that I believe crops will die in the field before you’ll get unskilled Americans to work that hard. You have a higher opinion of our labor force than I do, which is where this discussion began.
We manage to get our trash picked up just fine. Farm land will continue to be well used in this country by paying market wages. Laborers will be paid better, there will be some more automation, and perhaps some of the land will be shifted to different crops.
What makes you think agriculture should be exempt from our market economy?
So what? if the farmer wasn't willing to pay enough for his crop to be picked he shouldn't have planted it in the first place. This makes other farmers more profitable and able to pay the slightly higher wage. It is called supply and demand.