Idaho potato farms short-staffed due to shortage of migrants

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

While Washington politicians spar over who has the best election-year border control and immigration plan, Jack Hoopes wonders who will harvest his seed potatoes. He needs 50 workers for the three-week harvest starting next week. He has just 35, including students who get a week off from school in the Teton Valley, a farming region northeast of Idaho Falls.

Hoopes said his Hispanic workers tell him President Bush's plan for 6,000 National Guard troops on America's 1,951-mile southern border and the intensifying spotlight on illegal immigration have had a chilling effect on Mexicans willing to come north.

[...]

"It's going to take longer to harvest the potatoes," he told The Associated Press. "I've spoken with other neighbors, and they're having the same problem. Something needs to be done with immigration reform. We depend on (immigrant workers)."

Thirty years ago, Idaho's women and children provided enough labor for harvest season. Now, Hoopes says, women have jobs and some teenagers aren't interested in the work - and farms are larger. Furthermore, with the construction boom in Idaho and neighboring Wyoming's vacation areas, residents are pounding nails, not looking for seasonal jobs such as potato harvesting, which pays only a few dollars an hour.

Idaho's unemployment rate is 3.3 percent, and just 2.3 percent in eastern Idaho's potato country.

Migrant laborers are needed, the potato industry says.

http://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/ap/.../ap3019266.html

[chri'stina 190]

Ok this is not really connected, since the workers are paid...but I wonder what the slave owners said in the US after slavery was made illegal. "Now we actually have to pay someone to pick the cotton? Do our housework? Waaa! ". I am sure it would have been financially easier for the old slave owners to continue getting people to do all the work for free, but it was illegal and inhumane. Unfortunately they didn't pay the ex-slaves hardly at all, but enough so it wouldn't still be called "slavery".

So if the immigrants are settling for less money than the average worker, because they can't really get any other jobs as easily, does it become the farmer's fault if he got too comfortable paying crappy low wages to people who would settle for it? I kind of think so. *shrugs*

Something that confuses me though is how the article says "Hispanic workers" and migrant workers. Legal migrant workers are one thing. Illegal workers are another.

"Hoopes said his Hispanic workers tell him President Bush's plan for 6,000 National Guard troops on America's 1,951-mile southern border and the intensifying spotlight on illegal immigration have had a chilling effect on Mexicans willing to come north."

Isn't that a good thing? But not a good thing for farmers who want to pay crappy wages to someone who will take it because they have to?

(This may sound rambly, just thinking different thoughts. )

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

So if the immigrants are settling for less money than the average worker

According to the article, without migrant labor, there simply are no available workers to do the work. So whether migrant labors are depressing hourly rates or not is irrelevant.

Something that confuses me though is how the article says "Hispanic workers" and migrant workers. Legal migrant workers are one thing. Illegal workers are another.

The article says:

Hoopes said his Hispanic workers tell him President Bush's plan for 6,000 National Guard troops on America's 1,951-mile southern border and the intensifying spotlight on illegal immigration have had a chilling effect on Mexicans willing to come north.

The implication of that is clear. They are talking about illegal immigrants.

[Ban Hammer 13,677]

So if the immigrants are settling for less money than the average worker

According to the article, without migrant labor, there simply are no available workers to do the work. So whether migrant labors are depressing hourly rates or not is irrelevant.

Something that confuses me though is how the article says "Hispanic workers" and migrant workers. Legal migrant workers are one thing. Illegal workers are another.

The article says:

Hoopes said his Hispanic workers tell him President Bush's plan for 6,000 National Guard troops on America's 1,951-mile southern border and the intensifying spotlight on illegal immigration have had a chilling effect on Mexicans willing to come north.

The implication of that is clear. They are talking about illegal immigrants.

maybe time to pay more for potatoes........which is not a bad idea

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

maybe time to pay more for potatoes........which is not a bad idea

The article seems to suggest that the native workforce is tied up in the construction biz. Construction pays good money. Better than potato farms, anyhow. Now if the farms paid more and lured the construction workforce back into agro, won't it be the construction biz whining about not having enough people to work?

If the article is accurate (and I'm not saying it is), then doesn't it sound like there is a shortage of labor that can only be solved by increasing the size of the workforce?

[AnaAndDaniel 0]

So if the immigrants are settling for less money than the average worker

According to the article, without migrant labor, there simply are no available workers to do the work. So whether migrant labors are depressing hourly rates or not is irrelevant.

Something that confuses me though is how the article says "Hispanic workers" and migrant workers. Legal migrant workers are one thing. Illegal workers are another.

The article says:

Hoopes said his Hispanic workers tell him President Bush's plan for 6,000 National Guard troops on America's 1,951-mile southern border and the intensifying spotlight on illegal immigration have had a chilling effect on Mexicans willing to come north.

The implication of that is clear. They are talking about illegal immigrants.

maybe time to pay more for potatoes........which is not a bad idea

that or outsource(offshore more like it) the ag industry.

Daniel

:energetic:

[Traviesa 0]

Ok to all those people who INSIST "I would do that kind of work...any work if I had the chance; we don't need illegals..."

Get thee to Idaho and pick them potatoes!!!! Are you there yet??

[Bootylicious!! 2]

Ok to all those people who INSIST "I would do that kind of work...any work if I had the chance; we don't need illegals..."

Get thee to Idaho and pick them potatoes!!!! Are you there yet??

Thank goodness I have a decent job. I'd say picking potatoes pretty much sucks!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Ok to all those people who INSIST "I would do that kind of work...any work if I had the chance; we don't need illegals..."

Get thee to Idaho and pick them potatoes!!!! Are you there yet??

Thank goodness I have a decent job. I'd say picking potatoes pretty much sucks!

Ok, serious question.

How much would a potato picking job in rural Idaho have to pay for you to move out there and work at it for 1 year?

2x your current annual earnings?

3x your current annual earnings?

4x your current annual earnings?

5x your current annual earnings?

6x your current annual earnings?

10x your current annual earnings?

20x your current annual earnings?

100x your current annual earnings?

1000x your current annual earnings?

Or more?

Or no amount of money could get you to relocate to rural Idaho to pick potatoes?

[AnaAndDaniel 0]

Ok to all those people who INSIST "I would do that kind of work...any work if I had the chance; we don't need illegals..."

Get thee to Idaho and pick them potatoes!!!! Are you there yet??

Thank goodness I have a decent job. I'd say picking potatoes pretty much sucks!

I've never picked potaoes, but I did work on the farms. Honorable work. No fun.

Daniel

:energetic:

[meauxna 15]

maybe time to pay more for potatoes........which is not a bad idea

The article seems to suggest that the native workforce is tied up in the construction biz. Construction pays good money. Better than potato farms, anyhow. Now if the farms paid more and lured the construction workforce back into agro, won't it be the construction biz whining about not having enough people to work?

If the article is accurate (and I'm not saying it is), then doesn't it sound like there is a shortage of labor that can only be solved by increasing the size of the workforce?

And now the 'advanced' migrant workers have moved on to construction, too.

We had the same labor shortage here in Oregon at strawberry pickin' time. Actually over the past several years. The berries do cost more, and there are like 90% less of them--it used to be a major industry here.

[Ban Hammer 13,677]

Ok to all those people who INSIST "I would do that kind of work...any work if I had the chance; we don't need illegals..."

Get thee to Idaho and pick them potatoes!!!! Are you there yet??

who's been claiming the desire to go do that type of work?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Ok to all those people who INSIST "I would do that kind of work...any work if I had the chance; we don't need illegals..."

Get thee to Idaho and pick them potatoes!!!! Are you there yet??

who's been claiming the desire to go do that type of work?

There have been posters in past immigration threads who have claimed that if illegals didn't exist, there would be Americans who would be more than willing to go take these jobs.

To my knowledge, no poster has spoken for him/herself. It's all been hypothetical third-person.

[AnaAndDaniel 0]

Ok, serious question.

How much would a potato picking job in rural Idaho have to pay for you to move out there and work at it for 1 year?

2x your current annual earnings?

3x your current annual earnings?

4x your current annual earnings?

5x your current annual earnings?

6x your current annual earnings?

10x your current annual earnings?

20x your current annual earnings?

100x your current annual earnings?

1000x your current annual earnings?

Or more?

Or no amount of money could get you to relocate to rural Idaho to pick potatoes?

keep in mind, it is seasonal work. not familiar with potatoe harvesting season(s) in Idahoe, or anywhere for that matter, but let's say it is 3 months of work. work 3 months for my current annual pay? hmmmm very intersting.

Feasible?

Daniel

:energetic:

[Fuzzness 2]

Were there a farmer here who would be willing to hire me, I would pick those potatoes until I found a better job.