Crops Rot While Trump-Led Immigration Backlash Idles Farm Lobby

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

The death of meaningful U.S. immigration reform, done in by Washington partisanship and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s incendiary comments on foreigners, is leaving crops withering in the field and the farm lobby with nowhere to turn as a labor shortage intensifies.

Carlos Castaneda watched one-quarter of his Napa cabbages rot in three of his California fields this spring as 37 immigrant laborers scheduled to arrive March 13 under a farmworker visa program were delayed by bureaucratic paperwork. He said he’d like to see fixes to an immigration system that causes his crops to rot unharvested. But he has little hope that will happen in this political climate.

“The rhetoric that’s getting preached is pushing xenophobia,” said Castaneda, 39, whose parents are Mexican immigrants. “You can’t call an immigrant a murderer. You can’t paint them with that brush."

About a quarter of the U.S. farm workforce, more than 300,000 people, don’t have valid immigration papers, according to a 2009 survey by the Pew Hispanic Center. Other studies suggest the number may be more than 1 million. Proportions of undocumented workers tend to be higher in the hand-harvested fruit, vegetable and horticulture sectors, as well as large dairy farms where milking happens year-round.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-06-06/crops-rot-while-trump-led-immigration-backlash-idles-farm-lobby

[StarTrombone]

1. Well then that greedy farm owner

Who is profiting from what is basically slave labor, should be making sure that the HUMAN BEINGS that he employs be properly documented and paid a living wage.

Instead of bitching about it why dosen't he help facilitate the documentation process.

Maybe hire a couple of counselors to help those people get through the bureaucracy.

[valerief]

4. ^^^THIS^^^

[former9thward]

19. You don't know anything about this guy or his situation or his workers.

Nothing, so you just do the internet name calling from your anonymous keyboard.

[anigbrowl]

23. The documentation process is broken

It's not simply a matter of offering to sponsor or paying for a lawyer. The law is designed to be inflexible in numerous ways. For example, if an undocumented person leaves the US (eg to visit home) after being present in the US for more than 3 years (IIRC), then that person can be barred from re-entry for a period of 10 years. There is not a whole lot that small employers can do to assist undocumented workers who would like to be legal.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

33. So we farmers are "greedy"?

Are we farmers guaranteed a living wage - even when all our investment and hard work fails due to no fault of our own? Are we provided with health insurance? How about paid vacation? Maternity leave? I did farm work my entire pregnancy. Took a day off to lay down to give birth.

Ever watched 20% of your herd die? Ever fought a wildfire 9 months pregnant? In your world we are just "greedy farm owners".

If we're such shits, quit eating what we produce and grow your own.

[Taitertots]

42. How many undocumented migrants do you pay below market to pick your crops?

Ill assume the answer is zero because of your righteous indignation.

[Sunlei]

2. just over the border is where much of our produce is grown now by the $7 a day field workers.

Corps are thrilled, local USA 'farms' not thrilled.

[TeamPooka]

27. Don't forget that American citizens want cheap produce like cheap Chinese goods from WalMart

They make that choice every time when given one.
Everyone is guilty here, not just corporations.

[Sunlei]

43. It isn't cheap, they still get top dollar for that produce worked by the $7 a DAY Mexicans.

Garment industry is totally different than agricultures 'fresh' consumables.

[TeamPooka]

44. Because of those low slave wages the prices of produce have not kept pace with inflation over the la

st 20 years like so many other product groups.
I think we're on the same side here.
Making it better for the workers.

[notemason]

3. Why let the produce rot?

Just down the road here is a large farm where you pay to pick your own. At least consider letting the poor glean the fields.

[Hekate]

6. Aside from that one farm, how far from your city are the real farms? How can the poor get there?

Or say you are rural yourself. Pull out an Atlas and consider the urban areas where nearly every American now lives in vast numbers. Or Google, I don't care.

California itself has 40 million people and produces something like 25% of America's food in its Central Valley. But most of the 40 million live in the cities and suburbs on the coast, nowhere near the vast acres that produce the food.

Americans started moving off farms and to cities after WW I, a century ago. Long before 2016 we became dependent on a stream of foreign farmworkers to do the jobs we no longer have the skills to do. The old Bracero program dates from the 1930s and 1940s, iirc.

There's a lot wrong with the system as it stands now, and immigration reform is absolutely essential for both economic and humanitarian reasons. But closing the borders will be an utter disaster on every score.

[ToxMarz]

9. Cabbage probably doesn't get people that excited to go pick.

And doesn't really provide a lot of sustenance for poor people.

[notemason]

24. It's in the same family as broccoli

used to be a staple for the poor. Boil that cabbage down, turn the hoecake round. Only reason I wouldn't chase after free cabbage is because I grow my own organically. But I am in a rural area and there's plenty of poor around; there are also food banks who could distribute in the cities if offered. Just hate to see it rot.

[Person 2713]

32. There is a group in N. Illinois that does that with stuff left in the field. Not perfect but edible

It was going to rot . They are called gleaners and bring them to disadvantaged areas esp. post harvests
some are rejected for produce retail for under ripe,odd shape, & over abundance too can happen

[modestybl]

5. Or maybe agribusiness can pay a decent wage...

... and get domestic labor.

[Hekate]

7. See my post #6. Americans no longer have the homegrown labor with the necessary skills.

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. What skills are necessary to pick fruit and vegetables?

[former9thward]

20. My guess is you have never picked them with a comment like that.

[progressoid]

28. There are opportunities for you in PA if you want it.

You'll need a strong back, determination and no internet access.

The most important technique is, you have to learn how to use your hands," says Jose Martinez, one of the workers. "You should be able to look at a group of apples and decide, OK, I can grab three of these per hand, or two of these. Never just one, though."

When the bags are full, each worker walks or runs to a nearby wagon and empties it into a huge bin, big enough to hold almost a thousand pounds of apples. That's his container to fill; he gets paid by the box.

"If you are an experienced picker and you're in good physical condition — because it is hard to do — you should not pick less than 12 boxes in a day," says Martinez.

If you do the math, that's six tons of apples.

...http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/10/23/448579214/inside-the-life-of-an-apple-picker

Also, probably sleep in shack.

[Person 2713]

35. A lot of times you get paid by produce not by the hour . Better know how to pick and not damage

[meow2u3]

14. Wrong. Americans aren't willing to work for subminimum wages

doing backbreaking labor picking crops. Agribusinesses have been getting away with underpaying immigrant farmworkers for decades, using the well-worn excuse that if they pay Americans decent wages and provide decent working conditions, they'll have to jack up the price of produce. I call bullshit on that excuse.

[TexasBushwhacker]

26. Backbreaking SEASONAL work

I can't imagine what farmers would have to pay US citizens to live like a gypsy, going from farm to farm, to toil in the sun.

[progressoid]

31. And Americans aren't willing to pay what food actually costs to produce.

Just like t-shirts. Everybody wants a nice t-shirt but we don't want to buy US made t-shirts because they cost too much.

We've become addicted to cheap commodities.

[meow2u3]

36. I don't think cheap commodities are as much of an "addiction"

as it is that working-class Americans can't afford to buy American-made clothing. They don't get paid enough to make ends meet.

[Sunlei]

8. visa in 'workers' are paid at least the Federal minimum wage. It's part of visa 'rules'

[Boudica the Lyoness]

39. If we paid a "decent wage" to ourselves and seasonal workers

you wouldn't be able to afford to eat.

How about you raising food prices for us. Start with $20/gal. milk.

[underpants]

11. Something like this happened after 9/11

I could find the link - ABC News - but basically a Congressman was upset that a checkpoint in his district was unmanned. Terrorist generally fly into La Guardia not crossing the desert. So they started stopping traffic and we're catching people left and right. The Western Growers Association called their people complaining about not being able to enough people in the field. The checkpoint was opened back up again.

[keithbvadu2]

12. Trump does not seem to mind illegals working in his businesses.

But he has to be sure there are enough workers still in Mexico to make his clothing lines.

[EllieBC]

13. So why don't the farmers raise their wages and

and quit relying on cheap labour?

[meow2u3]

15. They'll have to charge sky-high prices for an apple

[Sunlei]

17. They make at least Fed. minimum wage. People bring in work crews by visa from mexico.

A group usually takes the bus from mexico, arrive at the farm areas and work for 3-6 months.

The BIG farm Corporations (who used to abuse/underpay undocumented persons) have moved to mexico border areas. There the Corporations only pay about $7.00 a day to harvest Americans produce. Mexico doesn't seem to care about their own citizens payscale.

[former9thward]

21. And then you will yell about skyrocketing food prices.

[EllieBC]

29. I doubt it.

We rightfully expect other industries to take less of a profit in order to pay their employees proper wages and provide benefits. Farmer should be no different. Their prices do not need to skyrocket.

[former9thward]

34. How much do you know about the economics of small agriculture?

No need to answer, I know what it is.

[EllieBC]

37. So all these poor farmers are small businesses?

Then all poor small businesses shouldn't have to pay decent wages and just get to import pretty much slave labour?

[former9thward]

38. You will be the first crying about high food prices.

And complaining about "greedy food stores". Gosh everyone is greedy except you I guess.

[EllieBC]

40. So farming is a sacred business which should never be expected to do better by its workers?

There seems to be a creepy nostalgia for farmers. Kinda like the same creepy nostalgia for the 50s. I find nothing noble about creating a slave class of immigrant labour.

And honestly where I live food is more expensive than where a lot of Americans live. Hell, most things are more expensive. We whine less overall though.

[world wide wally]

25. Nobody wants to do it for any wage anyway

[jwirr]

16. What does he care - he has no problem with buying affordable

food.

[tclambert]

18. I'm sure Trump would say, "Hey, if they can't get cabbage, let them eat cake."

"I've heard people say, many, many people, that they like cake better anyway."

[former9thward]

22. Already much of field work has been automated.

This will just increase that and then the problem will cease.

[Indydem]

30. Let the robot revolution begin!

It's time to eliminate these people from the labor pool and move to automation.

[tblue37]

41. Everyone should see the movie "A Day without Mexicans." nt