Farmers Say Lack of Cheap Labor Ruining Them
August 1st, 2006 | by Ken Grandlund |For America’s farmers, the recent crackdown on illegal immigration is creating a problem they say will cause them to lose crops and money, and may eventually mean higher food prices for consumers.
As the number of illegal immigrant farm workers has slowed to a trickle since border states deployed National Guard troops, some farmers in California are actually having to plow crops back into the earth or let them rot on the vine, because they say they can’t get enough workers to harvest the crops.
The U.S. Department of Labor says in a 2004 report that up to 75 percent of farm workers come from Mexico, about 53 percent of them illegally. In California, up to 80 percent of farm workers are illegal immigrants, according to the Western Growers Association.
Well let me cry a big fat tear for all the poor, helpless farmers out there who are having difficulty finding American workers to work for illegal immigrant wages. I feel so terribly sad for them that their slave labor train has been temporarily derailed as states try to rein in costs associated with illegal immigration by ramping up enforcement. Funny, I don’t remember any outcry from these same farmers when state coffers were going broke due to the high costs of housing, feeding, medically treating, educating, and incarcerating all the illegal employees they were paying pennies on the dollar to.
Just listen to the sob story of one grower, Dick Peixoto:
Here’s an idea Dick. Pay a decent, livable wage to legal workers. Or, if you don’t like that idea, try this one.
Already more than 4/5 of the farming in this country is done using machines and technology that reduces the need for human labor. At the University of Illinios, they are even developing “agbots” that can harvest apples and pluck chickens. The cost of one “agbot?” About $150. And that’s before mass production reduces the cost.
Sure, there may be an upfront investment for farmers to turn from illegal slave labor to new technology, but the long-term costs, both for farmers and for states, is going to be significantly less than the current system of underpaid, under the table illegal workers who are forced to suck off the teat of the state in order to maintain a bare subsistence level due to low wages and no benefits.
American farmers are already highly subsidized to give them an advantage over farmers and farm products from other countries. Nearly half of the nations farm output comes from corporate businesses, who also enjoy serious tax breaks and incentives from the government. And yet they still want more favors, in the form of turning the other cheek to their practice of importing cheap, illegal workers.
Yet even with all their current perks, I’d be in favor of offering another temporary deal that would offer tax credits for technological investments that reduce the need for unskilled farm labor. But I’d also want to see some serious enforcement against those farms who continue to depend on illegal workers for their profits.
[tag]illegal immigration, farmers, farm labor[/tag]
8 Responses to “Farmers Say Lack of Cheap Labor Ruining Them”
By steve on Aug 1, 2006 | Reply
Good… Maybe capitalism will work in that industry. Some farmers will go out of business and the strong will survive.
Ken, did you know in California the top 5 loser crops are tobacco, cotton, rice and…(2 others that we don’t use much of that I cannot recall) These crops get the most federal subsidies and they use HALF of California’s resevoir water!!
Fly into Sacramento sometime and check out all the flooded rice patties!
By Tom Baker on Aug 1, 2006 | Reply
Ken I have to ask, what is a living wage, and where are the workers who want to go do the job? I can work at McDonalds for nearly 8 bucks and hour and get free food, why do I want to bust my ass 2 months in one state, 3 months in another state, 6 weeks in a 4th? No matter the money, it takes a person who realllly needs a job to do that. No one has ever shown where that labor is coming from.
By ken grandlund on Aug 1, 2006 | Reply
A living wage would at least be what other industries pay for similar unskilled labor. If that wage is determined to be $8/hr at McDonalds (where working conditions aren’t exactly all that pleasant- hot grease, high productivity, polyester uniforms) then pay farm workers at least $8/hr too. Hell, toss in free lunch and all the water you can drink.
As for where that labor comes from…summer jobs for kids…entry jobs for prisoners returning to society after doing their time…people laid off and in need of temporary income while they get back on their feet. These are part time gigs, not a lifestyle…why not see them as stop gap jobs instead of a way of life. And farmers can still mechanize, reducing the need for farm labor overall.
Hey- the old South used the same excuse to keep slavery going for so long. “We need the cheap (read free) labor or we’ll all go under.” We found that was bullshit and so is the current excuse being used today by farms who want to maximize their profits on the backs of illegals and taxpayers.
By Tom Baker on Aug 1, 2006 | Reply
Do you have data for what teh average famr hand gets paid an hour? I’m curious. We all have this idea it’s $2.00 an hour, but I think it is a bit higher.
I’ve worked McDonalds, and trust me compared to being outside in 100 degree heat, I’ll take grease and girls any day. There are a lack of people who want to work these jobs and any reasonable pay. Kids and convicts are not going to provde the manpower. Find me 100 kids willing to do the job for $8.00 an hour? Not to mention there is a skill to picking the crops - it isn’t easy work. You want people who know what they are doing (and of course should pay them).
Florida orange growers are desperate to find help and are trying to find people to pick the crops, but a lot of it is going to die on the tree. I mean Dude, it’s not like the farmers are saying if i can’t hire an illegal, I’m just going to let it rot.
By Jersey McJones on Aug 1, 2006 | Reply
But der tikin er jerbs!!!
JMJ
By ken grandlund on Aug 1, 2006 | Reply
In 2000, the AEWR (Adverse Effect Wage Rate) for field and livestock workers was $7.27 in CA, $6.74 in AZ and $7.25 in FL. Higher than federal minimum, but less than the $8 McDonalds wage. These are wages for legal workers though and not necessarily what an illegal worker could command or have recourse to demand.
In 2005, US Dept of Labor rates farm contractors (businesses who provide farm labor) median wages at $9.52/hr. Of course, like all labor service companies, they pay the actual worker less so they can get their profit cut. Many of these contractors use illegals too, and likely don’t tell them the true wages being charged for their work.
Kids and FORMER convicts was just one example of who COULD do these jobs. And I agree, there are skills involved, undermining the whole “unskilled worker” claim and further giving reason to increase the wages of farm workers. If these are skilled jobs, shouldn’t the employers have to pay a proper wage for the skills? Those who say the market should determine job pay would have to agree that absent illegal farm workers, farmers would indeed have to pay a higher wage for employees. Yet they complain when they can’t get their slave labor at slave wages.
And actually, some of the farmers in the reports I read are saying basically just that. I can’t get cheap labor so I can’t harvest, so I’ll just have to plow it under.
By Sandy on Aug 2, 2006 | Reply
I don’t care if lettuce is $2 a head. Get the parasites OUT OF HERE!!