Schlosser: In the Strawberry Fields

[Calamagrostis]

Eric Schlosser, the author of Fast Food Nation, wrote a book about the underground economy called Reefer Madness, which includes an interesting chapter on how illegal immigration has become such a huge part of the U.S. economy. In essence the agricultural industry has been running our immigration policy, with growers always searching for a "peasantry" that are low paid and powerless. In 1951 the President's commission on Migratory Labor found that illegal immigration depressed wages for all farmworkers and that the only way to stop the flow of illegals was to impose harsh punishments on growers including fines, imprisonment and a prohibition on shipment of produce harvested by illegals. Congress ignored the commission’s recommendations. Scholesser is sympathetic to the plight of desperately poor immigrants, but he also exposes the fraud of the 1986 amnesty. He suggests that important innovations in mechanized farm equipment have been hampered by the availability of very cheap labor.

I recommend reading Scholosser and I also recommend boycotting strawberries. Strawberries are one of the most labor intensive crops, and the expansion of strawberry production has been one of the major factors in creating a demand for cheap farm labor. Enjoy a nice California grown apple or peach instead.

[ras6057]

Eric Schlosser, the author of Fast Food Nation, wrote a book about the underground economy called Reefer Madness, which includes an interesting chapter on how illegal immigration has become such a huge part of the U.S. economy. In essence the agricultural industry has been running our immigration policy, with growers always searching for a "peasantry" that are low paid and powerless. In 1951 the President's commission on Migratory Labor found that illegal immigration depressed wages for all farmworkers and that the only way to stop the flow of illegals was to impose harsh punishments on growers including fines, imprisonment and a prohibition on shipment of produce harvested by illegals. Congress ignored the commission’s recommendations. Scholesser is sympathetic to the plight of desperately poor immigrants, but he also exposes the fraud of the 1986 amnesty. He suggests that important innovations in mechanized farm equipment have been hampered by the availability of very cheap labor.

I recommend reading Scholosser and I also recommend boycotting strawberries. Strawberries are one of the most labor intensive crops, and the expansion of strawberry production has been one of the major factors in creating a demand for cheap farm labor. Enjoy a nice California grown apple or peach instead.

Enjoy grapes, says Sergio Chavez. Like apples or peaches are labor internsive crops.

How much are you willing to pay for a peach? One dollar or one dollar and half for a single peach or apple? Isn't that what it cost now? You are suggesting what? Signed by Ray Askins

[Calamagrostis]

I don't like strawberries for several reasons. Conventional strawberry fields are covered in plastic and fumigated with methyl bromide, a poisonous gas which is known to destroy the ozone layer. Both conventional and organic strawberries use plastic row covers and plastic drip tube. Then after they are harvested they are sold in little plastic baskets. There is so much plastic involved that I would rather not eat them at all.
Farmworkers hate strawberries, they would much rather work on some other crop. Also the high labor demands of growing strawberries has attracted many illegal immigrants, who drive down the wages of legal farmworkers.

[ras6057]

I don't like strawberries for several reasons. Conventional strawberry fields are covered in plastic and fumigated with methyl bromide, a poisonous gas which is known to destroy the ozone layer. Both conventional and organic strawberries use plastic row covers and plastic drip tube. Then after they are harvested they are sold in little plastic baskets. There is so much plastic involved that I would rather not eat them at all.
Farmworkers hate strawberries, they would much rather work on some other crop. Also the high labor demands of growing strawberries has attracted many illegal immigrants, who drive down the wages of legal farmworkers.

You can always grow them in your back yard. And the labor is cheap. Real Cheap and No Plastic! Signed by Ray Askins

[jeanfromfillmore]

Let me clear this up a bit. The open borders advocates have been using the excuse that we need all this slave labor or we will be paying $5 a head for lettuce. That is such a lie, I have to almost laugh at how gullible the public is. Let’s break it down. First, less than 3% of the illegals actually work in the fields. Second, the cost of produce is not in the labor, it is in the marketing. Marketing is the cost for the land, water, seed, advertising, packaging, shipping and placement. The labor is a miniscule part of the cost, because the taxpayer pays most of it. The taxpayer provides for the migrants: housing, medical, food, education, discounts on utilities, childcare, legal representation, transportation and complete use of the infrastructure. The growers often pay minimum wage, which is subsidized by the taxpayer. Third, much of the harvesting can be done by machine, which the growers don’t want to invest in because they require maintenance and storage plus the cost of the machines themselves. Cheap stoop labor the taxpayers pay to maintain. Fourth, most of the produce sold in our markets here in Californian is grown south of the border and often in contaminated fields using sewer water. What is grown here, mostly strawberries, is sold to countries that will pay top dollar for it, like Japan, because those counties know we control how our crops are grown. Fifth, many of those laborers are not even working full time or even part time. I know because I speak with them directly in their homes. They aren’t getting the work because many of the fields have not been planted because of the lack of water due to the dying of the fish up in Northern California and a bill pass by Senator Dianne Feinstein to restrict the water to the farmers. The water is being used to water the fruit trees, not the annual crops. But they are planting strawberries. Which are the most profitable and most labor intensive, but as I said, the labor costs are miniscule, but the profit is the highest of all the annual crops because they’re sold to other counties. That should tell you something. Those same growers are the ones spending billions to lobby both Boxer and Feinstein for more cheap labor visas, and they’re getting them. Yet, Fresno has a 50% unemployment rate among the farm laborers. Feinstein asked Congress to fund the food banks because they were broke. These are the same food banks that are supporting the farm laborers, and our tax dollars are restocking the shelves. I have spoken with Americans who have tried to get some of the work in the fields and they said they’re not hiring, especially Americans. So don’t let anyone use that line “Why don’t you go work in the fields,” because it’s not true, American will work in the fields and are trying to. I live in an agricultural area and my work requires that I go to the migrant’s homes and speak with them directly. I see first hand what is happening and what the truth really is. Even they want the influx of illegals stopped.

[Calamagrostis]

jeanfromfillmore, interesting post. The farmers have distorted the free market and corrupted our immigration policy for too long. They have sucked the rivers and aquifers dry, and tons of topsoil are wasted every year, and still they cry that they are the victims.