Thread: Letter of Response From a Local Farmer

I worked on a farm part time in my teens as did many HS kids in the area. It was for just a few weeks during spring planting and then a few during the harvest time. We were paid 2/3s of the minimum wage in cash and off the books. As I understood it then, the farm owner had no need for much labor during the summer months.

(Yes this Brooklyn boy was transplanted at 14 to a small town in PA. A short time after I graduated HS I was GONE!)

Originally Posted by Ratbstard

I worked on a farm part time in my teens as did many HS kids in the area. It was for just a few weeks during spring planting and then a few during the harvest time. We were paid 2/3s of the minimum wage in cash and off the books. As I understood it then, the farm owner had no need for much labor during the summer months.

(Yes this Brooklyn boy was transplanted at 14 to a small town in PA. A short time after I graduated HS I was GONE!)

The plants do all the work during the summer. There is not much to do but watch.

I worked on my Grandfathers farm in Texas outside of a little town called Floydada when I was a kid 35 years or so ago. We would go and help him with the cotton harvest and it was not a fun job by any means. Farm work is tedious and laborous.

To say the least I did not enjoy visiting Grampa's farm during the cotton season. I don't believe to many kids today could hack the work for long, my own Son included.

The facts are that any job that is labor intensive or requires little to no education is not generally going to pay much for wages. Picking melons or the likes in the fields during the summer months is about as tedious as it gets in the agrigculture industry. Not to many people want to do that type of work and if they did, very few would last the entire season.

Not everybody who is unemployed wants to really work. They may say they do but when it comes right down to it they only want to work the job they feel they are entitled to. In otherwords, the pay they feel they should be getting, the type of work they feel they should be doing, ect.

Our country's work ethics really have declined over the last 30 years or so and it is more about entiltlements and in many cases just plain old laziness.

I can believe the farmer has had some of the experiences he outlined to you in the polite letter. I can also believe he has had more sucess with migrant workers then with home grown workers, especially him being in the farming business.

I think having laws like they do for migrant workers where a farmer must first advertise for American workers before hiring migrant workers is fair, because what is not fair is the farmer not being able to farm for lack of field labor from the US. What is not fair is if those migrant workers use any taxpayer paid benefits while they are here, then I have a problem with that part.

Originally Posted by Arizonaman2008

I worked on my Grandfathers farm in Texas outside of a little town called Floydada when I was a kid 35 years or so ago. We would go and help him with the cotton harvest and it was not a fun job by any means. Farm work is tedious and laborous.

To say the least I did not enjoy visiting Grampa's farm during the cotton season. I don't believe to many kids today could hack the work for long, my own Son included.

The facts are that any job that is labor intensive or requires little to no education is not generally going to pay much for wages. Picking melons or the likes in the fields during the summer months is about as tedious as it gets in the agrigculture industry. Not to many people want to do that type of work and if they did, very few would last the entire season.

Not everybody who is unemployed wants to really work. They may say they do but when it comes right down to it they only want to work the job they feel they are entitled to. In otherwords, the pay they feel they should be getting, the type of work they feel they should be doing, ect.

Our country's work ethics really have declined over the last 30 years or so and it is more about entiltlements and in many cases just plain old laziness.

I can believe the farmer has had some of the experiences he outlined to you in the polite letter. I can also believe he has had more sucess with migrant workers then with home grown workers, especially him being in the farming business.

I think having laws like they do for migrant workers where a farmer must first advertise for American workers before hiring migrant workers is fair, because what is not fair is the farmer not being able to farm for lack of field labor from the US. What is not fair is if those migrant workers use any taxpayer paid benefits while they are here, then I have a problem with that part.

This is simply not true. American work ethics are as strong as they ever have been. It is propaganda to say the American worker is lazy. This is a smoke and mirrors myth designed by corporations to justify bringing in slave labor to the country. It is simply not true. Furthermore, if you really believe that foreign workers can do this work better than Americans...there are plenty of LEGAL RESIDENTS already in the country. There is no reason to bring in more workers. What? We dont have enough hispanic people here? If you think Hispanic people can do the work better....I got news for you....THERE ARE PLENTY ALREADY HERE LEGALLY...AND THEY ARE PERMANENT RESIDENTS. So now why would we have to bring in more? Your argument is pure propaganda and does not hold up.

No offence to this farmer, but Bill Gates says the same thing about American workers.

Originally Posted by mkfarnam

No offence to this farmer, but Bill Gates says the same thing about American workers.

My point, exactly.

I can agree many kids now would never do the stuff most of us did as kids to earn money, and that is strictly the parents fault.

We have taught our kids "if you want something bad enough, you will work for it, and not be choosey what jobs you are offered in that process, a job is a job". Our teen son works like a dog in a feed store. He loves being active and it is really good for him. He does cashiering, but also has to clean animal cages, clean chicks behinds (called pasting), wash puppies who have wandered into piles of doo before it could be cleaned, but also carries out heavy purchases to cars.

One issue we have in this nation is parents who make a decent income, have the mindset of just providing all the luxuries, and this makes kids lazy and unappreciative overall. They expect a lot, and do not appreciate the hard work that comes with those expensive shoes they got.

I suppose at times, my husband and I lament about how little he makes, and how we wish things could be better, but overall, our financial struggles have made our kids more willing to work, knowing that is the only way they will get anything above the basics. Then after they have earned it, they suddenly re-think their purchases and save it instead.

Maybe the lesson for all of us who have kids is, being poor makes kids willing to work? Too many, even in my generation, were given too much and are unwilling to do grunt work.

Originally Posted by AmericanElizabeth

I can agree many kids now would never do the stuff most of us did as kids to earn money, and that is strictly the parents fault.
We have taught our kids "if you want something bad enough, you will work for it, and not be choosey what jobs you are offered in that process, a job is a job". Our teen son works like a dog in a feed store. He loves being active and it is really good for him. He does cashiering, but also has to clean animal cages, clean chicks behinds (called pasting), wash puppies who have wandered into piles of doo before it could be cleaned, but also carries out heavy purchases to cars.

One issue we have in this nation is parents who make a decent income, have the mindset of just providing all the luxuries, and this makes kids lazy and unappreciative overall. They expect a lot, and do not appreciate the hard work that comes with those expensive shoes they got.

I suppose at times, my husband and I lament about how little he makes, and how we wish things could be better, but overall, our financial struggles have made our kids more willing to work, knowing that is the only way they will get anything above the basics. Then after they have earned it, they suddenly re-think their purchases and save it instead.

Maybe the lesson for all of us who have kids is, being poor makes kids willing to work? Too many, even in my generation, were given too much and are unwilling to do grunt work.

SOME parents have not taught their kids the value of working for a living, but MOST parents have. Overall, I think American kids are hard workers (if they are given the chance at a job). All this about how lazy American kids are is just propaganda put out by those that want an excuse to hire slave labor. We have heard it so often for so long that we start to believe it. But it simply is not true. All parents have financial struggles...all of them. So if financial struggles are what makes kids more willing to work, then I would say that American kids are ripe for the pickins. The American economy has been in the ditch for at least two decades, overall.

It's obvious that the newer generations are much less apt to do laboring jobs like we did when we were young. We can thank "Convenience" and "Technology" for this and not just the parents.
The value of work is no longer there.

These days people just don't like dirty jobs.

I was born and raised on a Dairy Farm in Michigan. My Brother and I not just worked the barn and fields, we also did logging on weekends.
While we did that, my Mother and sisters worked the garden, canned food, collected eggs, ect.
Looking back, I don't recalled any of us complaining that any of this work was too hard. This was a way of life.
And that goes for the other kids and families we knew.

As I got older, I perfered to do hard work. I ended up to be a Mechanic. I repair Lawn and Farm equipment. (engines)

Originally Posted by mkfarnam

It's obvious that the newer generations are much less apt to do laboring jobs like we did when we were young. We can thank "Convenience" and "Technology" for this and not just the parents.
The value of work is no longer there.

These days people just don't like dirty jobs.

I was born and raised on a Dairy Farm in Michigan. My Brother and I not just worked the barn and fields, we also did logging on weekends.
While we did that, my Mother and sisters worked the garden, canned food, collected eggs, ect.
Looking back, I don't recalled any of us complaining that any of this work was too hard. This was a way of life.
And that goes for the other kids and families we knew.

As I got older, I perfered to do hard work. I ended up to be a Mechanic. I repair Lawn and Farm equipment. (engines)

Whose kids are you talking about? Your kids? Because all of my family's kids and all of my friend's kids and also all of my co-workers friends ..do manual type labor. Many are sewer workers and mechanics. Some are street pavers and landscapers. Several are in construction. Maybe YOUR kids are afraid of work....but MY kids are not....NONE of the kids I know are afraid of ANY job.