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| Home Front: Economy | ||||||
| Border controls lead to shortage of (illegal) berry pickers | ||||||
| 2005-06-18 | ||||||
| Tighter controls of border crossings between the U.S. and Mexico have led to a shortage of strawberry pickers in Oregon, leaving some of the prized berries to rot on the vines during prime picking weeks. Earlier this week, an emergency plea for strawberry pickers was issued by the Oregon Employment Department. It's the latest trouble for an industry already coping with rising labor costs, a decline in strawberry processors and the increasing domination by California growers. "We're losing the first picking," said Juan Diego Sanchez, a labor supervisor on a 75 acres farm outside of Woodburn. "We're behind because there's not enough people."
Traditional seasonal workers from south of the border have not shown up this year, said Daniel Quiones, the migrant seasonal farm workers representative from the Oregon Employment Department. "There's just not as many people," he said. "There's fear about crossing the border and insecurity because of the Minuteman Project."
In Oregon, farmers and labor contractors said the government needs to start up a temporary worker program.
Jim Ludwick, president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, said he felt sorry for the farmers, but that the situation does not justify more immigration to the state. Instead of clamoring for the cheap labor, farmers should be lobbying Oregon legislators to remove the restrictions on children working the fields, Ludwick said."A number of years ago, those strawberries would have been picked by Oregon school children," he said.
Some farmers, concerned with losing their entire harvest, have started "people sharing" with other farmers so at least part of their crop gets picked, he said. And thus the whole "cheap" labor system starts to break down.
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| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #19 Rock on, half. :) If you can undercut the Teamsters in wages, I say go for it! |
| Posted by: eLarson 2005-06-18 21:28 |
| #18 your people are meanies. ima stand ready to go to workin on the 3 foot strawberry line. i will not however bent over to the nazi rule nof weight for pay, ima only work by the job or hour, itn about 23 american right now, unless it's real hot. |
| Posted by: Half 2005-06-18 20:22 |
| #17 What Frank G, DMFD, eLarson, Flavins, GK, trailing wife, and 3dc said Moose you have an elitist outlook about honest work, so fu*king what if the work is hard? You get in shape when you work hard. Like everyone else who's worked at different jobs I've worked in restaraunts, nurserys, post office, Heavy Construction overseas, mining,etc., and have been a gen. contractor for years. Its been great experience, I wouldn't trade it for sedentary work. BTW that, I do for free when I type on a keyboard everyday! ;) |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-06-18 19:51 |
| #16 Moose: good point. The fella whining about people liking "hand-picked" berries is clueless. This is an opportunity, not a problem. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2005-06-18 18:40 |
| #15 nice try moose - and I want a pony. Secure the border - should migrant workers REALLY be necessary, a bracero program can be reinstituted. I didn't work in the fields (and no, the red herring short hoe - proved you a dissembler - read "liar") but I did do yards and cars, and once I could drive, I worked at an italian restaurant doing the crap work.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-06-18 18:38 |
| #14 I, for one, welcome the union label on my strawberries. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2005-06-18 18:17 |
| #13 But Flavins, that would mean that the DNC's base would have to get off their fat asses and actually do something for their welfare money. Can't have that! Why not have all those on welfare (and still able to work) pick the berries and *do* *something* to earn their keep instead of sitting at home in front of the { TV | game console | booze bottle }. The fresh air might do them some good (and perhaps, just perhaps, get them to feel better about themselves. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-06-18 17:04 |
| #12 goddam ilegal berys |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2005-06-18 15:22 |
| #11 I'll pay higher prices for my strawberries if the govt will do SOMETHING to control the frickin borders. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2005-06-18 14:36 |
| #10 Flavins: don't think in the past. I would prefer a population improved so much that they wouldn't want to do seasonal agriculture labor. Replace them with machines and change you agribusiness to make it less labor intensive. Farming is just plain nasty, dangerous work. I'd far rather there was one well-paid machine operator than 50 migrant farm workers. As was noted, there are about 8 million illegals living in the US. I will point out that the vast majority of these illegals are not economically staying put, they are climbing up the ladder. In just two generations, they will be white and blue collar workers--no different from the workers America has now. Stopping the heroin of cheap and willing labor will force agribusiness to do what it has delayed doing for decades. The market rules. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-06-18 13:51 |
| #9 I want my strawberries picked by Americans.. not a bunch of migrant illegals. I despise socialism, but lets get the meth & reefer heads out of the trailer parks there and perform community agro assistance to revalidate their welfare checks. It sounds draconic, but enough is enough! We need more illegals to pick the tomatos and chilis and berries? No, I'll pay higher if that eventually puts an end to the nonsense we face by being demographically occupied by foreigners. We created this mess, and we are the solution. |
| Posted by: Flavins Flineque6690 2005-06-18 13:30 |
| #8 It seems the Mexican government will have to print and distribute a few more copies of their Someone should investigate whether this farmer has used illegal workers in the past and take appropriate action. I worked in strawberry fields as a kid and don't remember the hard work, but did appreciate the money. |
| Posted by: GK 2005-06-18 12:48 |
| #7 "There's just not as many people," he said. "There's fear about crossing the border and insecurity because of the Minuteman Project." The Census Bureau estimated that as of 2001, there are over 8 million illegal aliens on U.S. soil, and this being 2005, there's no doubt way more now. A few berry pickers can't be found among them? Please. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-06-18 11:51 |
| #6 I wouldn't want kids to do this kind of stoop labor. It is terribly hard on the back and can cause lots of long-term problems. California, for example, has banned the use of the short hoe in fields because of the high injury rate. An alternative would be expensive in the short term, but would pay off later with reduced fertilizer, pesticide and water use; that is, elevating the strawberry plants about 3' off the ground in long planters. This eliminates many nematode and weed problems, along with preventing soil salinization. In a way, think of it as "semi-hydroponic" farming. Stoop tending, which is quite slow, would be replaced with much faster labor. All told, it would save the farmer money in the long term. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-06-18 11:35 |
| #5 Supply and demand. What a concept. Start paying higher prices for the labor. The wink of the eye inaction by both parties have resulted in a virtual unlimited labor market, artificially keeping labor costs low. Hey Dems! Yeah, You! You don't have to raise minimum wage levels if you actually shut the border and control the inflow of labor. The 'natural' market pressures will take care of the issue. |
| Posted by: Jong Cravirong9792 2005-06-18 11:35 |
| #4 At an absolute level, this does belong on page 3. However, the implication that -- at least for the moment -- we are winning this particular battle of the WoT, the battle for control of our national borders, should keep it on page 1. Good catch, Anonymoose! Besides, it's good for kids to earn extra money by the sweat of their brow. And in some families, to help raise the family's standard of living. A thought: why not bus in the inner city poor to replace the illegal laborors? or use the local aid recipients (lots of poor people in the countryside, too, or so I'm told). Both groups won't need to be housed, so the cost should be a wash to the growers. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-06-18 11:23 |
| #3 Hey when I was young kid would mow lawns for money and everything... The damned lawyers ruined it and illegal aliens now fill the kid's niche... It was even fun to detassel corn. You a the local wanton could have some fun in the middle of fields while pretending to detassel. Admited that berries are not tall enough to hide that kind of action and berry growers use posion gas on the fields to sterilize them so they aren't that attractive to go into... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-06-18 11:16 |
| #2 Hire some of the local kids. Let them eat a few berries too! 14 -18 can do ag work! |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-06-18 11:12 |
| #1 Argh! Sorry. Meant to put it in page 3 under home front: economics. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-06-18 11:05 |