The president-elect has promised to massively deport immigrants on day one….and that is yet to be seen….but US farmers are in a panic at the possible loss of workers….what to do? What to do?
Beg….comes to mind….
As Donald Trump’s second presidential transition hurtles forward, his plan to mass-deport undocumented immigrants is causing farmers to panic — and, tellingly, to beg for exemptions.
With undocumented farmworkers potentially being targeted in the vague incoming immigration raids, lobbying groups are proposing expanded legal pathways to help undocumented agricultural workers attain visas.
“We need the certainty, reliability, and affordability of a workforce program and programs that are going to allow us to continue to deliver food from the farm to the table,” John Hollay of the International Fresh Produce Association told Reuters.
During his last turn at the head of ICE, Homan became infamous for defending the first Trump administration’s cruel family separation policy. In light of his second incoming stint with the president-elect, some farmer advocates are using that rhetoric against the proposed policy.
In an interview with Newsweek, dairy farmer Jennifer Tilton Flood of the Flood Brothers Farm in Maine said that because her family’s facilities are located close to the United States’ border with Canada, it’s “within the control” of Customs and Border Patrol. As such, that department could potentially act “without due diligence” to deport the people who work there.
https://futurism.com/the-byte/farmers-deportation-cheap-labor-trump
Is their concern the loss of workers or the loss of cheap labor?
Trump may listen if the huge agribusiness talks but if it is just the little farmer they may just bend over a accept their fate for their vote.
Will the farmers keep their cheap labor?
Will the decision be a shot at the consumer yet again?
Any thoughts?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
My opinion is there will be some workaround to allow enough farm workers to remain to keep the farmers producing. And the chicken processing and other food processing plants to remain open. Don’t know what it will be.
It will be whatever big agribusiness wants it to be….good thought…..chuq
Our new government has come up with what it thinks is a solution to losing foreign field workers on farmland here. If anyone currently on unemployment benefit refuses to take a valid job (including farm work) they will have the benefits removed. I cannot see that working in the real world somehow, especially as the majority of the unemployed live in big cities a very long way from agricultural areas.
Best wishes, Pete
Sounds like a Trumpian solution….no thought behind it. chuq
Oh lord, can you imagine trying to force thousands of unwilling, untrained, largely urban unemployed persons to work on a farm? Farming isn’t just hard work, it’s downright dangerous for untrained people. Add in the fact that they aren’t there willingly? You’re going to be looking at outright sabotage of equipment, maltreatment of animals, violence, accidents, even deaths. Farming is already one of the most dangerous jobs out there.
If something is designed to enrich the rich by a political elite, you can be sure it will be something that will do harm to the peons so the small farmers will disappear into the night… the agri-biggies will get bigger and because of the health asswads who will be in charge, those who deny vaccines and pandemics, the food supply will become tainted and even poisonous…and nobody will care…. because the big wigs will conclude it is a cost of business item to lose a few customers somewhere along the line ….and all America will suffer and suffer and suffer some more. Votes have consequences.
And those consequences must be paid for, right? chuq
“Is their concern the loss of workers or the loss of cheap labor?”
It’s more the loss of workers. Here in Wisconsin at least the average wage for general farm labor is around $20/hr. A shift leader at McDonalds only makes around $16/hr.
That is pretty good pay…..does that apply to the illegal workers? chuq
Yes, at least around here. If you start trying to pay some of your employees less than others word is going to get around fast. When your employees are driving tractors worth a half million dollars or working with milking cows that provide all of your income, you very much have an incentive to treat your employees well.
It is a wise practice…..no matter who the employees are…..chuq
I agree it’s a matter of having workers willing to toil in a field picking our food. In Napa Valley, major strides were made over the past decade to give seasonal workers benefits and a fair wage, because without them there is no wine industry. Let’s see if we can encourage legal residents to take on these jobs.
That will be a hard sell in most regions….but it is worth a try. chuq