Farm closes for lack of legal labor

[question everything]

Saturday, December 31, 2005

Farm closes for lack of legal labor

Sunrise Growers abandons base ranch as tighter security cuts into supply of workers.

By JEFF ROWE
The Orange County Register

(snip)

Sunrise Growersis closing its San Clemente Ranch today, a 498-acre expanse just over the county line on Camp Pendleton, land so bountiful it typically produced about 7,000 tons of fruit and vegetables a year.

Now the rich earth is bare, the fields bereft of workers. Cool ocean breezes that just a few weeks ago nurtured strawberries, peppers and beans now just stir the dust at the ranch. Sunrise couldn't get enough legal workers.

Tighter restrictions at the border cut the flow of workers to San Clemente and to farms around the state. But what really made it nearly impossible for Sunrise was the intensifying security at the base, which excluded workers lacking documentation - and that included many of the workers at San Clemente. Entrance to the ranch is through the base gate, and military commanders no longer wanted to allow illegal-immigrant workers to enter. Typically, 250 workers a day labored at the site, picking, planting and tending to other chores. Now they are recycling irrigation pipe, packing equipment and cleaning up.


(snip)

Some growers are opting to plant less rather than risk having to plow under a crop they can't harvest... If the United States fails to develop a policy that allows a flow of Mexican workers into the United States, "It will cause serious damage to our ability to grow our own food," says Harrison, who today works his last day at San Clemente Ranch.

(snip)

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/money/yourcounty/article_924047.php

[xultar]

1. I don't know how I feel about thisl If the growers weren't so greedy

and would pay workers then they'd have legal workers. On the other hand with NAFTA and all the cheap food from stuff from Mexico they can't compete.
Not to mention the fact that there are plenty of undocumented workers already here.

[Beelzebud]

9. Symptoms of the Race to the Bottom. The robber barons want us a 3rd world

country.

[EST]

2. There is another side to this bullshit report.

[DS1]

3. OK, report it

[JanMichael]

6. Ditto. I'm curious too. And not a psychic.

[lyonn]

4. Bull!

That is a repub. county isn't it. What is this game they are playing? We all have plenty of Mexicans in our areas that are looking for work. I need more info on the crack down aspect of this story. Calif. has about 50% mexican population and how many are illegals and new to the country that need jobs? Are they cracking down on the farms or just the borders?

[peanutbrittle]

5. 630,000 illegal immigrants in FL

Destroys economies and costs the States billions. I am happy to see the companies that hire them take a hit.

The costs of illegal immigration to Florida

Executive Summary

Analysis of the latest Census data indicates Florida's illegal immigrant population is costing the state's taxpayers nearly two billion dollars per year for education, medical care and incarceration. Even if the estimated taxes collected from illegal immigrant workers are subtracted, net outlays still amount to nearly one billion dollars per year. The annual fiscal burden amounts to about $315 per Florida household headed by a native-born resident.

This analysis looks specifically at the costs to the state for education, health care and incarceration resulting from illegal immigration. These three are the largest cost areas, and they are the same three areas analyzed in a 1994 study conducted by the Urban Institute, which provides a useful baseline for comparison a decade later. Other studies have been conducted in the interim, showing trends that support the conclusions of this report.

There are other significant costs associated with illegal immigration, and federal and state officials should take these into account as well. Even without accounting for all of the numerous areas in which costs associated with illegal immigration are being incurred by Florida taxpayers, the program areas analyzed in this study indicate that the burden is substantial and that the costs are rapidly increasing.

The nearly two billion dollars in costs incurred by Florida taxpayers annually result from outlays in the following areas:

more: http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=research_flcoststudy_html

When businesses compete all on a level playing field the "competition" problem goes away. This is not just an agricultural industry problem

[lyonn]

11. Thanks for info Peanutbrittle, and Welcome and

Happy New year.

Edit: Comment on Profile = Harsh. Yup

[B Calm]

7. Is there a web site to find out how much farm subsidies this farm

has gotten over the last 5 years?

[Vanje]

12. Yes . Search your ag subsidy recipients right here

http://bodyburden.org:16080/farm

Heres a DU thread on the subject

[B Calm]

13. Found a website,

still searching... http://ewg.org/farm/index.php

[rucky]

8. Is it illegal to hire illegals or not?

If it is, companies seem to be pretty open about it.

Just think how much more efficient it would be to go after the companies that hire illegals rather than the immigrants themselves.

[catabryna]

10. There's a lot more to this, obviously...

"But what really made it nearly impossible for Sunrise was the intensifying security at the base, which excluded workers lacking documentation - and that included many of the workers at San Clemente. Entrance to the ranch is through the base gate, and military commanders no longer wanted to allow illegal-immigrant workers to enter."

This is quietly put in the middle of the article. The military commanders appear to be causing most of the problem, not the lack of laborers.

But, I can see another side that is going to make it more difficult to find workers willing to do agricultural jobs... the wage of an illegal construction worker is higher than that of a picker. While I'm not sure about California, I can tell you that my home in the Austin area of Texas was built on the backs of illegal immigrants who are working for much lower wages than construction workers have historically made in the past.

Of course, all of these factors are pushing down wages and it is an issue that needs to be hashed out. The problem I find is that anyone who attempts to discuss such things is viewed as racist, a group in which I do not belong. I have no problem with immigration, I just prefer that it be legal, for a number of different reasons. If these were legal workers, they would not be as prone to work for $3.25 per hours (or whatever the wage might be) because, being undocumented, that was all the work they could find.

[lyonn]

14. Must register for article

So, thanks for further info.

[Book Lover]

15. bugmenot.com is your friend (nm)

[mourningdove92]

16. I agree, catabryna.

It is not racism to expect that those wanting to work in this country do so legally. The illegal aliens are draining our country. This is a serious problem that I would love to see addressed.

Don't count on the "cheap labor Repugs" to help in this either. Bush plans on putting through another amnesty program, which solves nothing.

[tularetom]

17. You put your finger on it

We had some remodeling done at the house last summer, and some of it was labor intensive, involvoing some concrete decking. The guy we hired was a licensed contractor, a hispanic guy. All his workers were immigrants, and none spoke a word of English. The guys did a great job and the price was more than reasonable. When I commented on this to the contractor he said that basically construction in CA was a buyers market that any contractor could hire very skilled employees for very low wages because anything paid better than field work, so the farmers were looking for workers while the workers were flocking to the higher paying construction jobs. How much was he paying? He wouldn't say but I found out later the going rate in this area is about $10/hour or about half of what union labor would make for the same crafts.

Amended to add: This sounds like I'm part of the problem by hiring a contractor who employs immigrants but around here that's the only kind of contractor there is. The market has weeded out those who paid higher wages.

[PsN2Wind]

18. A good subtitle would have been

Contractors hire former agricultural workers for, construction causing farm to close.
These construction jobs formerly done by citizens and legal residents at twice the wage. A spokesman for the construction industry was quoted as saying that paying a living wage would price many out of the housing market. This was affirmed by the CEO of KayBee whose compensation last year was 43 million dollars.

[PsN2Wind]

19. Just took a second look at the title

It should have read "Farm closes for lack of ILLEGAL labor".

[Greyhound]

20. Another BS article from one of the most blatantly RW rags in the country.

OC Register is a joke. This is just a strategy to push through their plan to force wages down further. There is certainly no shortage of labor, legal or otherwise, in amerika, let alone SoCal (about 50% Hispanic with a significant proportion being illegal). The problem lies with the corporate farmers not wanting to pay the freight.
And before you get all weepy eyed over the poor, poor owners that will lose their farm, check out how much 500 acres of prime development land in Orange County is worth (well over $1,000,000 per acre).

[gulfcoastliberal]

21. Thanks for the reality check...

That's a great post.

[Nicole]

22. Land is expensive but

it doesn't sound like this farm is owned by the growers.
The article states it's on Camp Pendleton which is why the guards are able to keep out the workers. Sunrise Growers are probably leasing the land from the Gov.

Farmers around here lease land from the Gov. on the range that the army base doesn't use, they are not rich farmers. The rich farmers here don't lease land, they own it.