Thread: Major PA Tomato Produce Quits, Blames Congress

This story is really amusing!!! Who does this farmer think he's fooling? He's trying to cash in on the ethynol craze and the government biofuel subsidies! He's GAMBLING on ethynol! Unfortunately, consumers are going to have to pay dearly for the biggest scam ever perpetrated on the public! We already paying for it at the market, but wait until it starts gumming up your automobile engines! Posted on Tue, Mar. 25, 2008


Major Pa. tomato producer quits, blames Congress
By Nancy Petersen

Inquirer Staff Writer

CLARKS SUMMIT, Pa. - Keith Eckel, the largest producer of fresh market tomatoes in Pennsylvania, is getting out of the business.
Fearing that the labor needed to harvest his tomatoes won't be there when he needs it, Eckel announced yesterday that after decades of growing tomatoes, he was calling it quits.

He placed the blame squarely at the feet of Congress and its failure to enact what he called a meaningful immigration reform measure.
"The system is broken," Eckel said before a crowd of neighbors, employees and news media gathered in the packing house at his farm near Scranton.

"It's a sad day," he said. "We're closing a part of our business that we really love."

Eckel's problems are echoed coast to coast by farmers who are reliant on foreign farm workers allowed into the country each year to plant, pick and package crops.

Eckel said the impact of the government's increased vigilance on illegal immigration and the lack of action on an immigration reform bill has sown doubt among farmers that they will be able to count on a predictable and sufficient work force.

The push for immigration reform has stalled in Congress and little action is expected during the rest of this election year. The problem can be solved if Congress would pass a viable and accessible guest-worker program, Eckel said. Otherwise, he and other farmers say they are not going to take the risk of planting crops they can't harvest for lack of a workforce. Eckels estimated the value of his tomato crop at $1.5 million to $2 million.

"It is a real concern, and we are disappointed that Congress has failed to act," said Peter Furey, executive director of the New Jersey Farm Bureau. "Ultimately, consumers will feel this."

Eckel warned that unless the issue was resolved, it would eventually drive the fresh fruit and vegetable industry offshore, causing an inevitable rise in food prices.

Last year, Eckel employed 180 people, but this spring, when he plants crops that can be handled by machines, he will employ five.

Farmers across the country who depend on immigrant labor are facing the same decision as Eckel: Do they forge ahead and risk losing a crop, or do they plant another crop for which a machine can do the work?

"It is one of those situations where the ground is shifting under your feet and you may not notice it until two or five years out," said Jack King, director of national programs for the California Farm Bureau Federation.

Workers on Eckel's farm averaged $16.59 an hour "and they earned every penny of it," Eckel said."No one will harvest tomatoes in 90 degree weather except immigrant labor," he said. And a number of people who worked in his packing house were retired workers picking up a few extra dollars, he said.

Congress needs to act, said Furey of the New Jersey Farm Bureau: "We need a national solution that is realistic, in tune with the economy and fair to the people."

Eckel gave President Bush credit for trying to enact meaningful change, but he said a divided Congress and emotions got in the way.

He said the climate was such that legal immigrants were fearful of moving across state lines, further exacerbating the problem.

Although his workers have documents proving that they are legal, Eckel said some estimates show that between 60 percent and 70 percent of the documents are fraudulent.

"We can no longer take the risk," he said. "We have done everything we can to comply with the law." Most farmers are honest, he said, but rather than run the risk of losing their crop, they simply won't plant one.

"It's a very uncertain time," said King of the California Farm Bureau. "Farmers are scared stiff on this immigration thing. They are operating at the mercy of the federal government."

King said that some of the state's vegetable growers were moving their operations to Mexico, raising concerns about food safety.

Last year Eckel planted 2.3 million tomato plants over 340 acres of his Lackawanna County farm, a crop that he estimated supplied about 75 percent of the fresh tomatoes in produce aisles between Boston and Washington.

He said his was the largest tomato producing operation north of the Mason-Dixon Line and east of Ohio.

This year, he is planting about 45 acres of sweet corn, and 1,200 acres of corn for grain.

When his mother asked where they will get tomatoes this summer, her son said: "We'll buy from one of our good neighbors."


http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_pa ... gress.html

I live near Scranton and heard this clown on television the other night.
Yeah, I believe his workers average $16.59 and hour. If he EVER advertised that wage in the local newspaper, he'd have a gold rush of people at his place. The Scranton area is pretty depressed, manufacturing jobs long ago migrated away. Most of the jobs around here for low/no skilled people are $7-10/hour, $10/hr being scarce.
I'd like to ask him who paid for the healthcare and schooling of his migrant workers??????

Originally Posted by 31scout

I live near Scranton and heard this clown on television the other night.
Yeah, I believe his workers average $16.59 and hour. If he EVER advertised that wage in the local newspaper, he'd have a gold rush of people at his place. The Scranton area is pretty depressed, manufacturing jobs long ago migrated away. Most of the jobs around here for low/no skilled people are $7-10/hour, $10/hr being scarce.
I'd like to ask him who paid for the healthcare and schooling of his migrant workers??????

Exactly right scout! There are plenty of people (including myself) who would pick tomatoes for $16.59 an hour! I would like to see the want adds he has placed in local papers or job boards advertising this work for that pay rate! Funny how I have never, ever seen these types of jobs in any paper or job site.

In addtion:

This year, he is planting about 45 acres of sweet corn, and 1,200 acres of corn for grain.

What a surprise!!! He's now goint to plant corn. I wonder if that has anything to do with the price of corn rising or the fact the government will subsidize corn farming.

This idiot is chasing the dollar and attempting to rationalize and blame his decisions on the government's so called "crackdown" on illegal invaders.

Earlier Post
http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-651275-.html#651275

B.S. I picked tomatoes in Pennsylvania. I also put in hay, threshed oats, picked rocks off of fields, and repaired fences. 90 degrees in the sun my foot. 5 or 6 days each summer maybe. Normally in the high 70's to mid 80's. You want hot....get up in a silo in July and level out the silage. No air, no breeze, 100% humidity and about 95 degrees. Or a hay mow, full of dust, no air, no breeze, only 90 % humidity and 95 degrees. This banana is a liar from the word go. There is a farm program that is legal. If he complies, he is covered. If he uses E-verification voluntarily, he is covered. And he is paying over $16 an hour? I bet. That is more than Northrup Grumman pays ship fitters. I hope this joker goes out of business entirely.

"The system is broken," Eckel said before a crowd of neighbors, employees and news media gathered in the packing house at his farm near Scranton.

'Broken' = new buzzword when you are lieing like a champ!

NoBueno wrote:

What a surprise!!! He's now goint to plant corn. I wonder if that has anything to do with the price of corn rising or the fact the government will subsidize corn farming.

This idiot is chasing the dollar and attempting to rationalize and blame his decisions on the government's so called "crackdown" on illegal invaders.

BINGO........I think you're right. It only makes sense that a farmer would plant the crop his land is most suitable for and where the most profit is expected.

Originally Posted by MW

NoBueno wrote:

What a surprise!!! He's now goint to plant corn. I wonder if that has anything to do with the price of corn rising or the fact the government will subsidize corn farming.

This idiot is chasing the dollar and attempting to rationalize and blame his decisions on the government's so called "crackdown" on illegal invaders.

BINGO........I thank you're right. It only makes sense that a farmer would plant the crop his land is most suitable for and where the most profit is expected.

He can plant pumpkins for all I care. Just don't blame the government for you decision to plant a crop that may yield a better return on your efforts, since he would likely done the same thing irrespective of any efforts on our government has made to enforce immigration law.

He doesn't have to justify making a buck, unless he feels he has something to justify.

Bye Mr. Eckel; I'd boycott your tomatoes anyway with your conduct

Here's what the Kaus files had to say about this. (Click on the link below for more links within the story.)
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MSM Rot Watch: Another tomato farmer gives up due to the failure to legalize illegal immigrants! ... Oh wait, it's the same guy, Keith Eckel of Clark's Summit, PA., who got publicity for the same reason last week. ... Is Eckel the only one the MSM could find? He's the Greg Packer of farmers! ... He's so famous he's already been contacted by Obama's people. ... P.S.: The NYT, unlike the Philadelphia Inquirer (which had last week's Eckel story) somehow doesn't have room to mention that Eckel is giving up tomatoes but planting corn. Instead reporter Paul Vitello deceptively says that Eckel has been put "out of business." ... And of course neither story mentions that corn prices are at record highs due to "surging demand for the grain used to feed livestock and make alternative fuels including ethanol." ...

So let's see: Corn prices soar. Farmer decides to plant corn. It's the yahoos fault! ... 10:52 P.M. link

http://www.slate.com/id/2187773/