Thread: Without Mexican labor, crops would rot

http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs. ... 20327/1046

Commentary: Without Mexican labor, crops would rot
By Aaron Duhon
News@theadvertiser.com

SPRINGFIELD - Emilio Hernandez, a native of Hidalgo, Mexico, is one of 24 migrant workers picking strawberries here at the farm of Rhonda Poche, who grows 16 acres of strawberries at the farm her grandfather started in 1926. Emilio's employment was secured under the H2A program, a temporary guest worker initiative that farmers like Poche have come to rely upon to get their crops out of the fields.
Like his 23 co-workers, Hernandez works in the United States but lives in Mexico. And he and other migrant workers all across the country are now caught in a federal crossfire that could tighten restrictions on who can work and live in the United States.

The issue of immigration reform has prompted protests by Hispanic groups across the country. Law enforcement officials said making illegal immigration a felony would tax their resources beyond limits.

But the fact remains that illegal aliens, mostly from Mexico, are entering this country in droves. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., told a Senate hearing last week that an estimated 2.8 million Mexicans crossed illegally into the United States last year.
Despite how Americans in general might feel about workers from Mexico, farmers, especially those in Louisiana, know exactly what their attitudes are toward those who come here from south of the border looking for work.

"They are essential to our operation," Poche said. "We advertise for several weeks in the newspapers to be able to get local people to come in and help us. We don't even get applications."

Poche has worked for years within the guidelines of the H2A program. It allows guest worker visas to be issued to her employees that stipulate they can work in the U.S. for 10 months and must then return home.

"We would love to have local people come pick our strawberries," Poche said. "We pay $7.80 per hour. But if we don't hire workers from Mexico, our strawberries would just rot in the field."

(Aaron Duhon is president of the Lafayette Parish Farm Bureau.)

Growing up, with two very large Farms. We didn't have illegal. We might hire the neighbors son for a couple of days. If he wasn't working there farm. Guess what, we didn't have a tomato, Potato, any okra, watermelon rot.