Thank you all for responding to my post yesterday about the letter that I received from the farmer. Keep responding to that if you would.

Have you ever felt like you had the answer to a problem on the tip of your tongue, but you just couldn't articulate what that solution was? While allowing farmworkers to be here legally on a visa, and then going home after the time is up, and not using taxpayer benefits while here, or bringing their family members here, may work, I feel that we, the people, have enough people within the population pool who can do at least some of the work on local farms.

The farmer told me, politely and I believe in good faith, that his experience with American workers was that they were unreliable, and didn't enjoy physical labor. I think the solution is that we need to get our population, in particular young people, interested in farms and the outdoors once again, but how do you do it? This is why I say that the answer is on the tip of my tongue, but I can't articulate it yet.

Some schools have gardens that the students maintain, and that is a great idea. If there was a way that farms could partner with schools to get young students to come to the farm several times per year, and then provide them with part-time work when they are in high school, this may help as well. But there has to be a draw. Why should a kid get dirty at a farm for $8 an hour when they can stay clean as a cashier for the same amount? That is the argument. And there is nothing wrong with being a cashier, but for purposes of this post, we need people out on the farms and interested in performing outdoor work.

Do farmers provide a scholarship program to certain kids who work on farms? Does someone create a "Habitat for Humanity" type organization to help provide labor to farms? I'm trying to think outside the box, even though these ideas may not be sound. Or maybe they are.

Can some smart kids create a computerized map/grid of the farm, and learn programming/engineering skills as well as perform physical labor? In other words, help the farmer create a virtual farm, and then the kids help the farmer to perform tasks on the real farm?

There has to be a way to get people interested once again. And these ideas may not work in every town or every county, but they may work in some areas, depending on the willingness of the farmer and local town to partner-up.

Please post any ideas that you have.

Thanks,

Ostrich