Thread: Machines put laborers' way of life, work in peril

Thought a big ag bill was needed?
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Machines put laborers' way of life, work in peril
By Jake Rollow / El Paso Times
El Paso Times
Article Launched: Mar 18, 2007

In the not-so-distant future, many farm workers may lose their jobs to farm machinery that continues to chop into the local industry.
Industry experts said the cost-benefit analysis farmers face is fairly simple. At a time when global markets are exerting pressure on local growers, machinery offers the cost savings critical to survival.

Jim Hill, a Las Cruces-area farmer and owner of a farm machinery dealership, Hill Equipment, said his own chile-picking machine cuts costs by as much as 9 cents per pound, or 30 percent.

Another machine Hill sells can cut the cost of thinning chile crops to $35 an acre, compared with between $75 and $150 to thin by hand, according to the recently dissolved New Mexico Chile Task Force that helped develop the thinner.

The thinner costs about $95,000, according to Cemco Turbo, the company that manufactures them in Belen, N.M. But Hill said the machine will pay for itself in a year on a 200-acre chile farm.

Hill acknowledged that a good crew does a better job than his picking machine -- workers can be perfect while the machine leaves between 6 percent and 8 percent of the crop in the field -- but said he has no choice.

Mechanization is the future, he said, citing the technology that replaces laborers, GPS systems and genetic modification of produce.

"If you farm today like I did 10 years ago, you're out of business," Hill said.

But the future Hill speaks of may be dim for local laborers.

"One of those machines will displace 80 workers," said Carlos Marentes, executive director of the Centro De Los Trabajadores Agrícolas Fronterizos, referring specifically to the thinning machine.

Marentes said he's already seen the impact of farming mechanization on the 8,000 farm workers registered with his center. Machines are shortening the farming season, causing workers to move to other areas more quickly and earn less money each year. He said that in 1986, farm workers earned about $7,000 annually. Two decades later, they earn $6,300 annually, he said.

"The jobs will decrease and there will be more competition amongst the workers, which creates a situation where workers are desperate and willing to work for anything," he said.

Some workers will be able to find jobs on smaller farms that cannot afford the machinery, but many will have to take jobs in other parts of the country, Marentes said. Still others may be forced to look for other work, which could prove impossible.

"It's the only thing they know," he said of some workers who come from rural areas in Mexico and have only four years of basic education. "A lot of them will die in the fields."

Veteran farm workers Anastacio Vargas, Sipriano Torres Saldaña and Hipolito Burrola Ruiz acknowledged the gravity of the situation, but expressed less pessimism.

Originally from Durango, Vargas said that he's been involved in many aspects of chile growing, harvesting and production locally for 15 years and that the machines are making well-paid work harder to find.

Although Vargas said some farm workers will always be needed, young laborers must find other options. "They have to look for an out," he said.

Some farm workers may be reabsorbed into the industry as mechanization progresses and production work is created, said Jay Lillywhite, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Business at New Mexico State University.

"You're not going to need the same number (of workers), and they're not going to do the same types of jobs," he said.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_5463510

Yes, this does put a monkey wrench in the Ag bill.

Where do these politicians get their information? why do they need these workers if the farms are getting industrialized?

That's why Illegals are moving into skilled trades like construction/electrical/plumbing/automotive/maintenace to name a few---they see the future---heheh!

Our food supply will be a whole lot safer with the machines let me tell you.

On the other hand---couldn't implement manufacturers design a machine that "thins" and "harvests", and then "exports" illegals?

Even if the machine left 6-8 percent of illegals after a "thinning" and "harvesting", the ICE gleaners could certainly deal with the rest of the crop.

I grinned ear to ear Nitty Gritty---excellent point!