What should happen to agriculture in the US?

[Fandango 1,439]

These farmers are no philanthropists, they're exploiters and opportunistic, self serving, slave drivers.

[almaty 19]

These farmers are no philanthropists, they're exploiters and opportunistic, self serving, slave drivers.

great post sister lisa,,,.if they are they would not be hiring illegals

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

These farmers are no philanthropists, they're exploiters and opportunistic, self serving, slave drivers.

Any Floridian with a healthy set of eyes would know that. It's the time of year where they labor to get them strawberry plants all lined up. It's horrible when you see them work on those little strawberry fields. And the places where they are being kept? My god. Nani always likens those shacks to what one would find in the destitute countryside of Ethiopia. Those farmers are slave drivers alright.

[peejay 327]

We all know how confusing and expensive the immigration process was for us, so imagine being a poor rural Mexican farmer who wants to give himself and his family a better life, he probably can't read Spanish let alone English, what are the odds of him doing the paperwork correctly and then getting approved for a visa? Not much. Let's face it we need low level workers for our industries, and like it or not illegal immigrants provide it. The immigration system needs to be re-vamped and stop scapegoating the messy system on the immigrants.

So he has a right to hire a smuggler to get him across the border, buy counterfeit or stolen documents, work illegally, etc., etc.? I don't buy that logic any more than I buy the logic that folks that do this are entitled to amnesty, retroactive permanent residency, and eventual US citizenship.

And farmers have a right to hire illegal aliens? Do farmers have a right to grow marijuana, opium poppies, or make moonshine liquor to make a living?

I do agree that there is enough blame to go around. The blame isn't 100% on the illegal alien or the farmer. We have institutionalized corruption aided, abetted, and tolerated at the highest levels of our government.

When roughly 1 out of 6 people walking the streets of Houston, TX are illegal aliens and 2/3 of the babies born in our city hospitals are the children of illegal aliens...I think we have a major problem in our country. This situation should never have been allowed to spiral this far out of control.

Farmers openly hiring illegal aliens is just the tip of the iceberg.

[kim&james 0]

This isnt just a US problem but a problem for most countries which have a pretty big farming production. Australia recently introduced a guest worker programme for this. New Zealand relies on seasonal workers, backpackers and others on working holidays.

The problem is the low pay and bad conditions. Even with govt subsidies, farmers just cant raise pay enough to pay what that sort of hard manual labour should and still make a profit, if any. Many crops just get laid to waste and ploughed over.

[pedroh 21]

This isnt just a US problem but a problem for most countries which have a pretty big farming production. Australia recently introduced a guest worker programme for this. New Zealand relies on seasonal workers, backpackers and others on working holidays.

The problem is the low pay and bad conditions. Even with govt subsidies, farmers just cant raise pay enough to pay what that sort of hard manual labour should and still make a profit, if any. Many crops just get laid to waste and ploughed over.

I think that's the main problem... big farms can increase the pay (again, del Monte, Dole, etc), but the regular mom and pop farms, I don't think they have such a wide margin of profits to play with and increase the wages, since they usually sell their production to the big produce dawgs, and they don't pay that much, so I don't think all farmers are bad evildoers enslaving people..

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

If we need to import farm workers to get it done that is fine with me, just make them here legally is all.

word

[Heracles 417]

If we need to import farm workers to get it done that is fine with me, just make them here legally is all.

Exactly. Open the Visa up to everyone abroad rather than only people from one country.

[Heracles 417]

Another thing. If there is so much work out there for stuff like this why is it nobody living in poverty, in the inner cities, wants to take up these jobs..

[peejay 327]

If we need to import farm workers to get it done that is fine with me, just make them here legally is all.

word

Enter legally and leave legally. Roughly 40% of the illegal aliens in the USA came here legally, but decided to overstay in violation of the law. Many of them fully expect to eventually get amnesty and permanent residency. I wonder where they get this sense of entitlement? Ask George Bush, Teddy Kennedy, Harry Reid, and all the other open border freaks.

We already have guestworker programs, but they are incompetently run.

We should not even think about expanding existing guestworker programs until we have a credible entry/exit system and the government actually enforces the laws we already have. There is no such thing as a guestworker as long as they refuse to go home and nobody makes them go home. Ditto for tourist visas, student visas, and business visas.

No more new programs until they competently run the existing ones and enforce the law. They really ought to eliminate existing programs due to malfeasance.

[Peikko 1,575]

The problem is though, while the goverment et al argue the toss as to the workability of the guest worker programs, the labour intensive crops remain unharvested. I would imagine many farmers will become bankrupt while this argument is tossed backward and forward. Of course, if one thinks that these labour intensive crops should no longer be produced in the US, then that's not really a concern.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

If we need to import farm workers to get it done that is fine with me, just make them here legally is all.

Exactly. Open the Visa up to everyone abroad rather than only people from one country.

How are we gonna keepem on the farm? What is gonna happen when they claim an injury that happened 10 years ago?

[peejay 327]

The problem is though, while the goverment et al argue the toss as to the workability of the guest worker programs, the labour intensive crops remain unharvested. I would imagine many farmers will become bankrupt while this argument is tossed backward and forward. Of course, if one thinks that these labour intensive crops should no longer be produced in the US, then that's not really a concern.

What do I think will happen? Look to history. President Eisenhower saw illegal immigration and illegal workers for what they were...contraband labor and not in the best interests of the country. He then issued an executive order to the INS to make sweeps through the American southwest and make massive arrests. Most of the rest of the illegal aliens fled home across the border.

Did the sky fall or the USA perish? NO!

I expect similar results if utilized again today.

Farmers aren't any different than all the other American industries that are being shipped elsewhere in the world to maximize profits in the push for mass globalization. Where is the outrage at the manufacturing and other sectors of the US economy that are being shipped overseas on a massive scale?

[Peikko 1,575]

Well, some do see food production as something that they would rather not see outsourced, rather like energy resources. There are yet others who want to see food production return to a local level as far as possible for a multitude of reasons. I guess it somewhat depends on your philosophy on how food should be produced and what's reasonable to pay for it.

As for the manufacturing outsourcing, I am somewhat surprised there isn't more outrage about it. There surely comes a point when on the face of it cheap, just really isn't that cheap after all.

[pedroh 21]

Well, some do see food production as something that they would rather not see outsourced, rather like energy resources. There are yet others who want to see food production return to a local level as far as possible for a multitude of reasons. I guess it somewhat depends on your philosophy on how food should be produced and what's reasonable to pay for it.

As for the manufacturing outsourcing, I am somewhat surprised there isn't more outrage about it. There surely comes a point when on the face of it cheap, just really isn't that cheap after all.

LOL look @ the toy recalls..

but at the same time, if they increase wages and do the necessary thing to make farm work attractive to workers.. wouldn't that increase the cost of produce? are Americans willing to pay more for produce?