Thread: We Need to Research and Stay Ahead of Farmer's Sob Stories

I think we all know the first sob stories will come from the Farmers. We need to really research and learn about them, just how hard do they have it when they say they cannot afford to pay a liveable wage to an American. I'm going to start by posting this info and anyone else willing to research, please help by posting what you know or can and find out through researching. We need to be informed and ready to counter their upcoming "sob stories" with facts for the American people.

First thing that I'd like to point out that if in 2007, when this first article was written, they claim to have a labor shortage. How could that be with 12 - 20 million or more illegal aliens in the U.S. ?

Maybe it's a job an illegal alien doesn't want to do?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00326.html

The only reason why the farmers are whining and crying is because with their illegal slave workers on the run from ICE, they can't have their giant profits anymore now that they have to pay the American worker a decent wage. Boo-Hoo!

Here's another one, 7 years old, but may have some information of interest for the American people.

Here's a quote from the following article, it is long, so I'll put the the link. Written in 2001.

In truth, food prices and supplies do not require government stabilization any more than industries such as technology, energy, and telecommunications do. Nor do today's farmers need income supports more than those engaged in any other occupation do. When large-scale farm subsidies were created in the 1930s, farmer income was only approximately 50 percent of the national average. Today, the average family farm has a household income of $64,347 (17 percent above the national average)7 and a net worth of over $563,600 (double the national average), which is even more impressive considering that the cost of living in rural areas is 10 percent to 40 percent lower than in urban areas.8 Farms fail at only one-sixth the rate of non-farm businesses, and only 4.5 percent of farms have enough debt to be considered vulnerable to bankruptcy.9 Yet Congress still votes to transfer hundreds of billions of dollars to farmers.

Link
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Agriculture/BG1510.cfm

Another quote from that link:

Farmer incomes and net worth are not low enough to necessitate large-scale farmer welfare, and there is no justification for taxing working Americans and inflating food prices to subsidize multimillionaires.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Agriculture/BG1510.cfm

Maybe the federal government should re-examine and reduce its farm subsidies and instaed focus on efficient ways to get the harvest in, without importing workers who just loiter around this country afterwards,

Since the Carter Administration technological advancement in agricultural harvesting has dropped of to almost nothing. A lawsuit by the United Farmworkers Union against UC at Davis also set a legal presedent to dissuade federal investment in harvesting automation. Somehow this needs to change; some conservatives don't want any federal role at all. But I would favor Congress financing research that can eliminate as much hand labor as possible. US farmers need this to compete against Latin American agribusiness that pay workers as little as ten dollars a day.

Even the rich elitists hold farms in this country and collect farm subsidies!!!

http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed050802a.cfm