Thread: More "Crops Rotting in the Field" Nonsense

Another whiny, liberal editorial from WaPo, typically with no solid facts to back up their assertions. And any "moral blight" rests with the OBL and the corrupt government of Mexico who have allowed tens of millions of illegal aliens to sneak into our country, NOT the hard working American middle class which has had little say in this matter:
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Rot in the Fields
As farmworkers become scarcer, Congress dithers.
Monday, December 3, 2007; Page A16

CHECK OUT the asparagus you have for dinner, the cucumber in your salad and the pear on your plate for dessert. Chances are none would be there if not for the undocumented farmworkers who plant and pick most of the fruit and vegetables grown in this country. Nonetheless, faced with a serious and growing shortage of legal agricultural labor, Congress has followed the same playbook it has used for the broader issue of illegal immigration: political cowardice and empty slogans followed by inaction.

At least half, and possibly as many as 70 percent, of the 1.6 million farmworkers in America are undocumented immigrants, and their employers are painfully aware that there are not enough U.S.-born citizens and legal immigrants to do all the labor-intensive work they require. Agribusiness, farmworkers unions and enlightened lawmakers from both parties have pleaded for solutions, only to be foiled by congressional Republicans and swing-state Democrats who dare not support legislation that would provide undocumented farmworkers with a path to legalization -- the dread "amnesty" of 30-second attack ads.

By doing nothing to ensure a steady, reliable and sufficient labor force for farms, it's a good bet that Congress will make things worse, and soon. Faced with understandable public pressure to tighten border security, federal authorities have added personnel, technology and fencing to make it increasingly difficult for people to enter America illegally. Reports in the past year of vegetables and fruit rotting in fields and orchards for lack of hands to harvest them have failed to give Congress sufficient impetus to act. Look for the labor shortages, and instances of rotting produce, to grow more acute next year.

As Congress dithers, fair and balanced legislation to deal with the problem languishes. The so-called AgJobs bill would allow some 800,000 undocumented workers -- qualified farmhands who have been working here for several seasons -- to register, pay fines and legalize their immigration status by working in agriculture three to five more years before they could qualify for green cards. At the same time, it would provide a more sensible way to ensure an adequate supply of farm labor by streamlining the current H-2A visa program for agricultural guest workers, which is so cumbersome and unreliable that farmers use it for only an estimated 2 percent of all farmworkers.

Having failed to pass comprehensive immigrations reform this year, Congress has tried to deal with the problem piecemeal. The AgJobs piece is among the most critical. The realistic alternative to it is not arrest and deportation, as anti-immigration activists may imagine. It is the prospect of undocumented workers leaving the farms for higher-paying, year-round jobs in the cities; of a country increasingly unable to meet its own demand for food; and of hundreds of thousands of workers in a vital industry doing backbreaking work without basic employment protections. That amounts to a moral blight on America and an indictment of a political system incapable of fixing fundamental problems

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01593.html

How about a totally NEW concept: Like paying a living wage to workers to pick those crops and plant them!

I'd be more than happy to pay more for produce if I knew Americans were handling it. And I wouldn't have to bring a magnifying glass to the grocery store to try to read where in the world this food is coming from. I buy Dole potatoes ... but is Dole outsourcing? Are they buying from China? Other potatoes don't have any information at all. I read the fine print and my cupboard's are getting pretty bare!

The consummer determines the price of produce, not the vendor/seller. Paying a descent wage to Americans would cut in the the big agra-business' profit.

Same agra-businesses that gobbled up the family farms in the 80's.

Dixie

My asparagus is from Chile, so are my bananas. I stopped buying ANY produce from California over a year ago. Won't buy any Ca wines either. If I can't tell where produce/fruit is from, I will buy canned.

Posted a comment there earlier today. Most of the rot is in their article. Usual WaPo amnesty bull. But hey, they need to be called on it everytime they try it.

I don't understand why they think MY fresh fruits and veggies are only here because of illegal alien criminals. We grow some of our own, and buy from local PA farmers markets (we have friends with farms, so we know who's planting and picking!!). We even have some farms that let people go in and pick their own food (strawberries, pumpkins, corn, etc) for a small fee. Bring your own buckets!

As for fruits like oranges etc, I am allergic to cirtic acid, so we don't eat those anyway! We get our Vitamin C from alternate sources. We have been turning more to vegetarian foods as well, although our next-door neighbor is a hunter (who also has his own farm) and during the winter, he often knocks on the door with fresh cuts of meat from his prey.

So, illegal aliens have absolutely NOTHING to do with MY food.

Although I'm still debating on whether to drop off Tupperware's payroll (they produce some of the products in mexico, and it doesn't even say "made in mexico" it says it spanish -- hecha en mexico!)

Most of the Fruits and veggies in my local stores are not from the U.S. either, I have not seen a watermellon from the states in years, They give us the unsafe, uninspected goods and send ouR crops to other Nations, so you farmers can go to hell!!!


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PLEASE TAKE ACTION!!!! 12/3
HELP STOP "NORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY COLLEGES" FROM ADMITTING ILLEGALS !!(This could come to your community college next)
WATCH VIDEO!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zxJZBecp_0
ACTION THREAD( CONTACT INFORMATION)
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-92278.html
WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT ALIPAC Please Contribute!!
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=C ... page&pid=9

Here's an idea.

All farmers can move to Mexico and take the illegals with them. This way produce will still be cheap and we US taxpayers don't have to pay for any the freebies the illegals are stealing from us!

Of course the illegals don't want that! They come here for the freebies. NOT to work.