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  1. #1
    GFC
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    Western Farms Look for More Immigrant Workers

    Good listen. We need to look beyond Mexico for some of our work force.

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=5400389

  2. #2
    KickEmOut's Avatar
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    The onslaught just doesn't seem to end. Mexico today, Thailand tomorrow--- good thing the men from Mars haven't yet arrived!
    <div>Want some ICE with that cervesa?</div>

  3. #3
    GFC
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    Ag At-Large: Crops can't wait when labor is late

    By Don Curlee, for The Porterville Recorder

    The labor shortages California farmers are experiencing might be just the beginning of a serious situation that will likely require years of adjustments and government involvement to overcome. They say patience is a virtue, but the crops don't know that, and they can't wait.

    The shortages hit with a vengeance during the harvest of winter vegetables in the Imperial Valley and Yuma, AZ beginning in December. The sprawling area across California's southern tip and into southwestern Arizona supplies about 90 percent of the nation's winter vegetables in December through February.


    Traditionally day workers from Mexico supply a large percentage of the harvest workforce, crossing the border each morning at Calexico, being bused to farms and returning to their homes at the end of the work day.

    But this year they stayed home in droves. A traditional mid-December breakfast for farm workers in Calexico sponsored jointly by the Employment Development Department and the chamber of commerce attracted about 3,500 workers. In years past the attendance has been greater by 1,000 or more.

    Opinions vary about the shortage. Some say development in Mexico is attracting workers away from their farm backgrounds. Others say increased border security has made the entry/exit process more cumbersome than workers want to deal with. Most agree that the tighter border has reduced illegal entry substantially.

    California agriculture's reliance on foreign labor, most of it in the form of illegals from Mexico and points further south, has not been a source of pride for the industry. Foreign labor of some kind from someplace probably will continue to be necessary in harvesting many California crops.

    An expert with 16 years experience in importing foreigners for work in the United States has provided some background that growers and others in agriculture and politics can learn from.

    Mordechai Orian maintains an office in Los Angeles for his Global Horizons, a company that recruits foreign laborers and brings them to the United States to work under a federal program called H-2A. They work for specified periods before returning to their homelands.

    Most of those currently involved in the Global Horizons program are from Thailand and Vietnam. Orian has found that they honor their commitments to return home when work assignments are completed, and they respect American laws while they are here.

    His experience with workers from Mexico is just the opposite. He says many of them steal off to other employment once they are in this country, with no intention of returning to their homes.

    His involvement with government supervision has been disappointing. “mployers can hire illegals (ostensibly without knowing it) and never be bothered by authorities,” he said, “ut some agency is constantly checking on me and the workers I import.”

    His dissatisfaction with the program, plus its limitations and lack of flexibility, are matters lawmakers must deal with as they consider the larger issues of immigration, homeland security, temporary workers and amnesty for those in the country illegally.

    While government grinds out resolutions to such issues very slowly, crops in California and a strategic and profitable food producing industry can't wait.

    Don Curlee is an agriculture consultant based in the Valley. His column appears weekly in The Recorder.

    This story was published in The Porterville Recorder on January 2, 2006

  4. #4
    Senior Member Mamie's Avatar
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    if they relied upon the state penal system of laborers, they would know who they are, where they are and when they will show up and leave
    "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it" George Santayana "Deo Vindice"

  5. #5
    Senior Member Bowman's Avatar
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    Pretty soon this won't be a problem for California farmers, since they are losing 100,000 acres of farmland a year due to mass immigration.

    Or the idiots could demand mass immigration be stopped, and instead ask the government to put some funds into agrucultural robot development.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  6. #6
    Senior Member Mamie's Avatar
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    Bowman

    you're right, but apparently people can't figure out the more people you have the more land space you use -- pretty soon, we will be importing all our food, exporting all our jobs and importing more cheap labor
    "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it" George Santayana "Deo Vindice"

  7. #7
    KickEmOut's Avatar
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    Yes, today we are blackmailed over oil. How long before we are blackmailed over food? Everything is interrelated.
    <div>Want some ICE with that cervesa?</div>

  8. #8
    Senior Member Mamie's Avatar
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    I've noticed billboards to "buy fresh -- buy local" curb markets and farmer's markets do pretty good around here ... in fight for America we need to start supporting the small local growers that don't rely on illegal labor. I know a strawberry grower in another county uses 'immigrants'
    "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it" George Santayana "Deo Vindice"

  9. #9
    KickEmOut's Avatar
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    Yes Mamie, we/ve got to remain smart and aware and active. We don't want to ever let anything like this happen to our nation again. We must be self-reliant, we must be what Americans have always been -- determined to do for ourselves. Shop local, stop global!!!
    <div>Want some ICE with that cervesa?</div>

  10. #10
    Senior Member Mamie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by KickEmOut
    Shop local, stop global!!!
    I like that, maybe you can get Dixie to put that on her slogans page
    "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it" George Santayana "Deo Vindice"

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