Posted on 09/26/2013 8:42:54 AM PDT by reaganaut1
FRESNO, Calif. — With the harvest in full swing on the West Coast, farmers in California and other states say they can't find enough people to pick high value crops such as grapes, peppers, apples and pears.
In some cases, workers have walked off fields in the middle of harvest, lured by offers of better pay or easier work elsewhere.
The shortage and competition for workers means labor expenses have climbed, harvests are getting delayed and less fruit and vegetable products are being picked, prompting some growers to say their income is suffering.
But farmworkers, whose incomes are some of the lowest in the nation, have benefited, their wages jumping in California to $2 to $3 over the $8 hourly minimum wage and even more for those working piece rate.
The shortage — driven by a struggling U.S. economy, more jobs in Mexico, and bigger hurdles to illegal border crossings — has led some farmers to offer unusual incentives: they're buying meals for their workers, paying for transportation to and from fields, even giving bonuses to those who stay for the whole season.
And a few have stationed foremen near their crews to prevent other farmers from wooing away their workers.
"In the past, we were overrun with farmworkers. But not anymore," said labor contractor Jesus Mateo, whose crews saw a 20 percent pay increase. "Employers have to do something to attract them. The fastest workers can now earn more than $1,000 per week."
A California Farm Bureau Federation member survey being conducted this year thus far has found about half of farmers are experiencing shortages, said bureau manager Rayne Pegg. Many of the growers say their workforce has decreased by up to one-third.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
AH...you cannot do that....and survive...at least if you have any size farming operation.
Tens of millions of illegals on welfare with multiple identities don’t want to leave the comfy cities, imagine that
It would actually do some of these kids from inner-city welfare homes a lot of good to go out and get the fresh air, exercise, earn some money and learn what hard work is all about.
There wouldn't be a labor shortage if the welfare system didn't pay more than actual work and these welfare recipients had to actually earn the money they received.
But the problem is this. If the govt. is involved in the employment of these people, then the rules and regs. are so stifling that it cost more to hire these people than to do without, in most cases.
(The elitist moron writing the article - not the laborers)
So you crack down on illegals and employers have to pay workers a fair wage. Wow who would have thought.
Time to invent new robots
Thus is how a free market works! You have a skill in demand ...in this case..picking fruit. You demand to get paid what you’re worth..or go elsewhere.
Precisely—what a concept!
Why shouldn’t farmers pay for their labor?
It would actually do some of these kids from inner-city welfare homes a lot of good to go out and get the fresh air, exercise, earn some money and learn what hard work is all about.
Get the Section 8 hood dwellers out of the food desert into the vegetable oasis for a little combination work-study program and healthy exercise.
Isn’t what Michelle O has be agitating for since 2009.
How about those with SNAP cards too....they can take a part in the delivery of their benefits.
Excellent point!
Zipper-Boy Clinton was a fan of Midnight Basketball, but outside work in sunny California fields just might be even better!
BTW, do you think that welfare-loving politicians could be convinced to set an example by working in the fields for a day?
Maybe California Gov. Jerreeeeeeee could be convinced to “pick an apple a day?”
You’re exactly right. It’s the AP.
The Associated Press would steal the pennies from the eyes of their dead mothers to buy the favors of prostitutes.
There really is nothing to see here.
Back in the day you had to work to eat.
Today the Government takes care of that, Food Stamps Welfare, Unemployment.
Why work when you get plenty to eat by going to the Government.
Later we got Illegals to do the work,
Now we supply them with Food Stamps, welfare, and Social Security, now they won’t work either.
Can you really blame them?
Lets bring Africans over to pick cotton. Since that worked out so well for us.
In 80’s I made $50 a day (12-14 hour days) riding cowboy on ranches, in the 90’s it went up to $75.
Importing de facto slaves isn’t the solution to the labor shortage in our fields.
I understand that the margins are tight on the crops, but that’s something that the markets need to resolve.
I mean, no one ever got rich from field-work, but someone should be able to eat off of their labor, get a beer, and some smokes.
When I was young you could pretty much work in McDonald’s or work in the fields and make about the same. It’s just not like that right now.
The elephant in the room is that no one wants the food prices to go up, but all of this inflation (wage inflation) can’t be stopped.
That's because Mexico has exported about 16 million of their chronic unemployed to the United States in the last decade.
Those numbers are from the Mexican census statistics, BTW.
A useful way to estimate how many Mexicans are in the US illegally is to find accurate and honest stats about how many are no longer in Mexico have left for El Norte, which is easier than finding them in America where accurate numbers are had to come by because they are dishonest..
Farmers should not pay for picking labor so that their produce can delivered to the food stores at a lower cost to us.
We then have more money to stimulate the economy.
This stimulation will convince Bernanke’s replacement to stop using our tax dollars to buy US Treasury Bonds.
All this and more because the farmers will be using their money to payoff the bank loans that they had borrowed to pay for the increased taxes that Gov. Jereeeeee SAID he needed to pay unemployment welfare payments to California illegal aliens from Mexico.
Hope you followed all of that - - - .
California politics is sooooooo complicated!
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.