From Stark
Via the Whatcom Farm Friends Facebook page, here’s a report from NPR about the farm labor situation in Alabama, where Hispanic workers — legal and otherwise — are said to be leaving the state because of restrictive state laws aimed at curbing illegal immigration.
Farmers quoted in the NPR report are saying that other unemployed Alabama residents are not stepping forward in sufficient numbers to get crops planted and harvested.
Whatcom County farmers have said they are concerned about similar problems here if the federal government imposes eVerify requirements for farmworkers nationwide.
Here and elsewhere, farmers say they want a legal workforce, but measures that eliminate illegal workers without providing an alternative labor supply could be disastrous. That would likely mean some kind of guest worker program that would enable farmers to quickly mobilize legal immigrant laborers when they are needed.
40,000,000 + on food stamps and 10,000,000+ on unemployment, millions with EBT cards, etc etc etc etc; another question to ask is what if government benefits, checks, etc etc etc etc were tied to doing the jobs that needed to be done that nobody wants to do; would there then be a problem finding workers?
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
What ever happened to the program that Napolitano proposed for hiring farm workers? She was going to turn the Homeland Security into a virtual hiring hall for farm workers, requiring all farm workers to register with Homeland Security, legal and illegal and she was going to have H.S. assign workers to the farms, relieving the farmers of the responsibility of hiring the illegal workers.
Maybe if this guy picked some beans it might help him lose some weight and get off the government you know what, don’t ya know!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2051012/Adult-baby-Stanley-Thornton-Jr-cleared-fraud-STILL-getting-disability-benefits.html#ixzz1bLi7nTyU
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
@afy: Many years ago I recall reading a report in the Texas Observer about housing and food stamp benefits used by farm workers in just one rural Texas county. They concluded that these benefits amounted to a huge public subsidy for farmers’ labor costs. It’s not a simple matter.
John, it could be, say Bubba the farmer needed a half dozen tobacco pickers, so all he got to do is head down to the local unemployment/food stamp line and throw a couple dozen (I’s put in a few extra’s for the worthless factor) in his pickup, after they are done for the day he writes them a check (if Bubba can write that is; otherwise it’s cash) and delivers them back to the unemployment/food stamps line where the difference can be made up (deducting their earnings).
Heck I’s bet after a few Bubba rides, going out and finding different work and not needing food stamps might become a higher priority, don’t ay know!
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
@afy–not positive what point you are making…
But here’s a point: a lot of people talk as though any unemployed person can and should just roll out to the farm and start picking and digging and collecting a paycheck. It’s not that simple–for the worker or the farmer.
@AFY. so day laboreres or anyone on food stamops is worthless? You are once piece of work, if you get any done that is…all day writing nonsense on the internets…the s was for you Bubba mutt…..
Plus farm labor isn’t sitting at a desk, doodling on the internet-s, making a few sales and pontificating like you knew anything…it’s hard work for little pay and you also can’t expect someone unemployed from say the retail or tech sector to give up on their career and finding a decent job just to benefit the farmers…especially those in this county who take millions of subsidies….
Much of the north county farm industry is on the dole big time and then they go out and vote against their interests, or pontificate about the services to help others as if they weren’t also a drag on the system…now that is bubba flubba do do..
Well John it is simple, it’s as simple as a simple sign that says:
Please don’t feed the bears!
Why should we not feed the bears, is it because we don’t want to be good to the bears or we don’t care about the bears or is it because if we feed them then they will not take care of themselves, heck I’s for a bear safety net but not for destroying their work ethic, don’t ya know.
But you know what else happens when you feed the bears, well it happens when you don’t, they come looking for it (like they are entitled) and then if they are able; they take it, had that very thing happen on the Rogue River once, some campers had been feeding the bears at a camp site I happened to pick out one day then I came along and camped there and I didn’t feed them, all I can say is the camping trip could have been a lot more fun otherwise.
There’s a reason when you have millions unemployed and you can’t find people to work, and IMHO it can be related to the government handouts or feeding our bears.
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
So AFY, are you opposed to the entire dairy industry in this county who take government handouts? Are you asserting your company has never done anything related to a diary project? Doesn’t the owner of your company have a relative in the dairy industry? Isn’t he taking subsidies?
It’s hilarious.
You build an industry by cutting labor rules so you can pay less-than minimum wage and not provide benefits.
Then, in an obvious fit of racism, you kick these people out of your state. Then you lose billions in profit.
If you want to end illegal immigration, go after the employers (many of whom are in the construction industry as well). The illegals are just trying to feed their families.
Seriously, farm subsidies account for the biggest leeches in America these days.
@AFY: It sounds like you want to completely eliminate all remaining welfare programs, including food stamps, so there will be more desperate workers to exploit in the fields — kind of like those good ol’ Jim Crow days, huh?
Well, I have news for you. The agricultural labor shortage here in Washington is already a crisis:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016507956_gregoire15m.html
The solution is to loosen our immigration laws and legally admit more immigrants from south of the border. Come to think of it, allowing a few million hard working immigrants to settle in the country wouldn’t only give the economy a shot in the arm, it would also help with the real estate crisis.
The farmer loves those good ol’ jim crow days Todd2, and the illegal immigrant has always been a cost savings program, over that good old pre 15th Amendment days, when you had to house, feed, doctor, and educate your favorite form of farm labor from the democratic party.
Todays Federal Farmer, on the dole, using modern illegal labor in another immigration special from the Texas and California Democratic Party.
Even those expensive Carnival Cruises from Africa, are way less costly when one uses the Mexico Model, way down younder in the land of Dixie!
T2, me not against a safety net just have a problem with hammocks, which is a partial reflection of why when jobs are available and those unemployed won’t apply.
On E verify:
“E-Verify quickly identifies illegal immigrants working in the U.S. and protects jobs for legal workers by checking the Social Security numbers of new hires. It’s free, quick and easy to use. Individuals eligible to work here are immediately confirmed 99.5 percent of the time.
We could open up millions of jobs for unemployed Americans by requiring all U.S. employers to use E-Verify. While 23 million Americans are unemployed or cannot find full-time work, 7 million illegal immigrants work here. These jobs should go to legal workers….
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20111019/OPINION/110190365/E-Verify-good-program-worthy-support?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|s
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
It makes no sense to try and slot the unemployed into a system built for illegal aliens. Farmers will have to hire more of the unemployed, change their harvesting practices and pay them a living wage. This will mean increased food prices at the grocery store. However, this is a necessary adjustment since food is underpriced and undervalued now. Food prices are going up anyway because of the price of petroleum. Better to pay the farmer more so he/she can pay the picker more. Once farm work is fairly compensated, there will be plenty of people willing to do it.
CCC Civilian Conservation Corps
FFF Federal Farming Force