Report: Farm labort shortages costs Georgia economy millions

[Kathryn41 3,205]

http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/report-farm-labor-shortages-1194039.html\

Georgia Politics

7:04 p.m. Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Report: Farm labor shortages may cost Georgia economy $391 million

By Jeremy Redmon and Daniel Malloy

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia's economy is projected to take a $391 million hit and shed about 3,260 jobs this year because of farm labor shortages, according to

a report released Tuesday by the state's agricultural industry.

Photo: Vino Wong, vwong@ajc.com

"Gary Paulk of Paulk Farm in Irwin County said in June he had to abandon five acres of blackberries because he couldn't get enough workers to

pick the fruit."

The report does not cite the reasons for the worker shortages in Georgia's $68.8 billion agricultural industry, the state's largest. But

many farmers complained this year that Georgia's new immigration law -- House Bill 87 -- has scared away the migrant Hispanic workers they

depend on, putting their crops at risk.

Some of the findings of the report, which was produced by the University of Georgia, were released Tuesday morning, just hours before

the state's agriculture commissioner appeared on Capitol Hill at a hearing aimed at bridging the labor gap. Commissioner Gary Black

acknowledged the state's financial toll and said he was open to any number of proposals to deal with the problem so long as there is a

strong guest-worker program.

"The economic losses were real," Black, a Republican, said under questioning from the Democratic-led Senate Judiciary Committee's

Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.

The author of HB 87, Rep. Matt Ramsey, R-Peachtree City, responded to the report by saying "there are existing federal visa programs that

provide a legal avenue for the agriculture industry to import as much migrant labor as necessary to supplement their domestic workforce,"

although he added that those "federal programs are bureaucratically and administratively cumbersome" and in need of improvement.

Georgia was one of several states to pass legislation cracking down on illegal immigration this year. Supporters of HB 87 say it will

prevent illegal immigrants from taking jobs from U.S. citizens. But farmers say many U.S. citizens won't harvest crops in their

fields because the work is physically taxing. Many instead hire migrant foreign workers. And many of them are in the country illegally.

After the Republican-controlled state Legislature passed HB 87, farmers reported having trouble finding enough people to

harvest their crops. So they commissioned a study of their financial losses.

UGA's Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development completed the study for the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association and other

state agricultural groups. The full report is expected to be released this week.

Researchers identified a shortage of 5,244 farm laborers and $74.9 million in losses from seven crops. They surveyed farmers representing

nearly half of the acreage available for harvesting those seven crops last spring. Their losses resulted in an extra $106.5 million loss in

other goods and services in Georgia plus 1,282 fewer jobs across the state, the report projected. Using these numbers and assuming the

farmers they surveyed are representative of all Georgia farmers with the same crops, the researchers projected the state's total yearly losses

could be $391 million and 3,260 full-time jobs.

In Georgia, some farmers have been particularly critical of one provision in HB 87 that will require many of them to use the federal

E-Verify program. The program helps employers ensure their newly hired employees can legally work in the United States. Legislation is pending

in Congress to mandate E-Verify nationwide. At the same time, farmers say the federal guest-worker programs that are designed to help them

temporarily employ foreign workers are cumbersome and costly.

"Georgia is the poster child for what can happen when mandatory E-Verify and enforcement legislation is passed without an adequate

guest-worker program," Charles Hall, executive director of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, said in a prepared statement.

During his testimony Tuesday, Black pointed to some factors that could have contributed to the labor shortages, including "unusually high

heat and lack of rain, which caused an unexpected rush in harvests." He also told the Senate panel that "E-Verify is a real problem without

fixing a guest-worker program."

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., chairman of the subcommittee, went further, declaring that state and national E-Verify laws "pose a

potentially fatal threat to the livelihood of American farmers."

Lawmakers' solutions varied widely. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., promoted giving a "blue card" to current migrant agricultural workers

allowing them to stay for five years with their families as long as they continue to do agricultural work. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., whose

state has an E-Verify law similar to Georgia's, said he would prefer letting guest workers stay for less than a year without their families

to do seasonal farm jobs.

Eric Ruark, of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said more robust enforcement of immigration law would tighten the labor

market and allow wages to rise to the point where U.S. citizens would want the work. Feinstein contended that the difficult labor and often

sweltering conditions keep U.S. citizens away, leaving migrants, in most cases, as the only workers willing to do it.

In Georgia, Ramsey said that while he is sensitive to the farmers' concerns, the state must also protect taxpayer-funded resources.

"It is our obligation as state policymakers to address the financial and social burdens imposed by our federal government's failure to secure

our nation's border," Ramsey said.

The subcommittee in Washington also heard testimony from Connie Horner, who co-owns an organic blueberry farm in South Georgia. She told

of the bureaucratic nightmares of the H-2A visa system and failed efforts with local, legal workers, who don't last long and are ineffective.

"I need your help," she said, "to make it easier to do what's right."

Spring agriculture losses

The Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association released some findings from a study of the state's farm labor shortages Tuesday. Here

is a breakdown from the study of this year's $74.9 million in crop losses:

Blueberries, $29 million

Vidalia onions, $16.3 million

Bell peppers, $15.1 million

Cucumbers, $5.9 million

Blackberries, $4 million

Watermelons, $2.5 million

Squash, $1.9 million

[Robby999 1,024]

Suppose this drought we have been experiencing could be responsible for some of those loses also?

[maning 36]

Suppose this drought we have been experiencing could be responsible for some of those loses also?

The study was done to show the impact of labor shortages in farming. The weather was not a factor. Most farmers I know hate the new laws... in South Carolina the new immigration law exempts farmers from it. They put out wanted ads for farm help all the time, but hardly anyone applies or they quit early once they know how little they get paid and how much work they have to do. Farmers can offer higher wages, but I doubt anyone wants to pay $3-$5 for an ear of corn.

[Francisco_Sanchez 0]

The weather was not a factor....Farmers can offer higher wages, but I doubt anyone wants to pay $3-$5 for an ear of corn.

#1: Actually, the weather was a factor. The normal harvest period was shortened by unusually hot weather that caused crops to ripen more quickly than normal. Plus, there was a drought. See GA farmers and State agriculture officials are turning to a higher power to make it rain. Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black gathered with more than 100 farmers today to pray. So the losses can't be blamed entirely on a labor shortage.

#2: You're right that no one will pay $3-$5 for an ear of corn (even for ethanol). Like all produce, farmers will only be able to charge what the market will bear. If GA farmers paid higher wages, it would just turn a $750-million profit industry into perhaps a $700-million profit industry.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

All the farmers have to do is pay fair wages for hard work, instead of the current slave handouts to illegal aliens, and the workers will come. Legal ones.

If I have to pay a bit more for my produce (aside from the fact that I buy local from the Farmers Market), so be it. I'll do that with a smile on my face, knowing that I'm helping to open jobs for Americans and Green Card holders.

[Robby999 1,024]

U,S, Lawsuit Says Ga. Farmer Discriminated Against Americans

2:17 PM, Oct 5, 2011 | 1 comments

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  [*] [*] [*] - A A A +

Written by

Bernard O'Donnell

• FILED UNDER
• Georgia News
• Top Headlines

ATLANTA (AP) -- A lawsuit accuses a South Georgia farmer of discriminating against U.S. and black workers because of their race and national origin while giving better treatment to workers from Mexico.

The suit filed last week by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission seeks compensation on behalf of ex-workers at Hamilton Growers Inc. in Norman Park. That's in Colquitt County, north of Moultrie.

A company attorney did not return messages seeking comment.

It alleges that the firm in 2009 let go the bulk of its U.S. workers but kept nearly all of its 370 workers from Mexico. The next year, lawyers say the company terminated the majority of its 233 U.S. workers, but it kept the vast majority of its 518 workers from Mexico.

The lawsuit also says that black workers got fewer hours and were forced into less-lucrative work.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[TBoneTX 45,304]

the firm in 2009 let go the bulk of its U.S. workers but kept nearly all of its 370 workers from Mexico. The next year, lawyers say the company terminated the majority of its 233 U.S. workers, but it kept the vast majority of its 518 workers from Mexico.

Regardless of ethnicity, how were the U.S. workers performing, and with what kind of attitude?

[rlogan 2,036]

All the farmers have to do is pay fair wages for hard work, instead of the current slave handouts to illegal aliens, and the workers will come. Legal ones.

If I have to pay a bit more for my produce (aside from the fact that I buy local from the Farmers Market), so be it. I'll do that with a smile on my face, knowing that I'm helping to open jobs for Americans and Green Card holders.

First prize in demagogue competition. Nice work.

[callmehero007 0]

In 16th century, there was a Headright System to solve labor shortages during the advent of the tobacco economy in 1610

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

If you want a shortage, establish a price for something that is below what the market demands. Works every time.

Georgia farmers need to increase wages and benefits until they attract workers to those jobs and stop exploiting illegals by underpaying them, giving no benefits, no worker protections. YES you will pay more for their products.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

First prize in demagogue competition. Nice work.

But absolutely correct. Americans WILL do those jobs. Americans will NOT do those jobs under the pay scale and conditions illegal aliens do the jobs for. But why should they? we have protections we have passed for workers, as we should. Those protections cost money to implement, as they should. We should not allow American employers to avoid those provisions and their costs by hiring illegals.

Or maybe you thought the illegals were the best ag workers in the world

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

But absolutely correct. Americans WILL do those jobs. Americans will NOT do those jobs under the pay scale and conditions illegal aliens do the jobs for. But why should they? we have protections we have passed for workers, as we should. Those protections cost money to implement, as they should. We should not allow American employers to avoid those provisions and their costs by hiring illegals.

Or maybe you thought the illegals were the best ag workers in the world

I have an acquaintance who brings in Mexican workers under H2A visas to work a farm in Louisiana. He also hires workers from the local citizenry. His wife (who does all the paperwork for the farm) tells me that hands downs the workers they bring over from Mexico are more honest and more hard working than the locals.

Edited November 26, 2011 by Rebecca Jo

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Regardless of ethnicity, how were the U.S. workers performing, and with what kind of attitude?

Probably not very well.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

If you want a shortage, establish a price for something that is below what the market demands. Works every time.

Georgia farmers need to increase wages and benefits until they attract workers to those jobs and stop exploiting illegals by underpaying them, giving no benefits, no worker protections. YES you will pay more for their products.

[Kang 22]

All the farmers have to do is pay fair wages for hard work, instead of the current slave handouts to illegal aliens, and the workers will come. Legal ones.

If I have to pay a bit more for my produce (aside from the fact that I buy local from the Farmers Market), so be it. I'll do that with a smile on my face, knowing that I'm helping to open jobs for Americans and Green Card holders.

Amen. All these reasoning for farm labor "shortage" and "lower prices" -- do they even realize that illegals are the "new modern slaves"? Given them amnesty, the farmers will hire another batch of illegals! And then, there'd be calls for amnesty again, and them hire illegals for slave labor, amnesty, hire illegals again...it's a vicious cycle! It would be better cleaning dirty toilets in In and Out than working for a greedy farmer -- you get a starting wage at $10.00 (CA wage) plus benefits. With the "greedy" farmers ($5.00, no benefits)

Now, the best thing to combat his is punish those who hire illegals.