General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAlabama crops rot as workers vanish to avoid crackdown
For four months every year he employs almost exclusively Hispanic male workers to pick the harvest. This year he had 64 men out in the fields.
Then HB56 came into effect, the new law that makes it a crime not to carry valid immigration documents and forces the police to check on anyone they suspect may be in the country illegally.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/14/alabama-immigration-law-workers
Change is coming to America on many fronts.
trof
(54,255 posts)Equinox Moon
(6,344 posts)It looked spot on relevant to what is happening now.
stopbush
(24,378 posts)still_one
(91,968 posts)California Farmers Backed Trump, but Now Fear Losing Field Workers
MERCED, Calif. Jeff Marchini and others in the Central Valley here bet their farms on the election of Donald J. Trump. His message of reducing regulations and taxes appealed to this Republican stronghold, one of Mr. Trumps strongest bases of support in the state.
As for his promises about cracking down on illegal immigrants, many assumed Mr. Trumps pledges were mostly just talk. But two weeks into his administration, Mr. Trump has signed executive orders that have upended the countrys immigration laws. Now farmers here are deeply alarmed about what the new policies could mean for their workers, most of whom are unauthorized, and the businesses that depend on them.
Everythings coming so quickly, Mr. Marchini said. Were not loading people into buses or deporting them, thats not happening yet. As he looked out over a crew of workers bent over as they rifled through muddy leaves to find purple heads of radicchio, he said that as a businessman, Mr. Trump would know that farmers had invested millions of dollars into produce that is growing right now, and that not being able to pick and sell those crops would represent huge losses for the state economy. Im confident that he can grasp the magnitude and the anxiety of whats happening now.
Mr. Trumps immigration policies could transform Californias Central Valley, a stretch of lowlands that extends from Sacramento to Bakersfield. Approximately 70 percent of all farmworkers here are living in the United States illegally, according to researchers at University of California, Davis. The impact could reverberate throughout the valleys precarious economy, where agriculture is by far the largest industry. With 6.5 million people living in the valley, the fields in this state bring in $35 billion a year and provide more of the nations food than any other state.
The consequences of a smaller immigrant work force would ripple not just through the orchards and dairies, but also to locally owned businesses, restaurants, schools and even seemingly unrelated industries, like the insurance market.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/us/california-farmers-backed-trump-but-now-fear-losing-field-workers.html?_r=0
Equinox Moon
(6,344 posts)This is a big deal. I remember this article.
As I realize that The Guardian had re-published this article from 2011, it brings up the issue that Pres. Obama was the cause of the deportations at that time. It would be an interesting thread to discuss why we are protesting now about it and we didn't in 2011.
Trump is not going to back down. He will essentially shut down our food production because of it and America will learn who has been working the fields and harvesting the food we eat every day.
yallerdawg
(16,104 posts)Not Obama's.
Alabama basically determined anyone who looks Hispanic can be investigated and held, and went as far as requiring police, troopers, and school employees to act as immigration enforcement!
Courts tossed out a lot, but census figures indicating declining Hispanic/Latino population in Alabama indicate "the message" was loud and clear.
Equinox Moon
(6,344 posts)America will now learn who is harvesting their food. Even though I did not realize this was a post from 2011, it is relevant now, which is why I would assume, The Guardian re-published it.
But now that I see the date, 2011, that was during Pres. Obama's time and we do know he deported many people. It is an interesting discussion we could have in another thread regarding why we protest trump's deportations, and not Obama's? That would be for another thread.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)And as you say, the issue is still valid now with current ICE operations.
It's up to the agricultural states to give harvesting feedback to the moron in chief.
lame54
(35,143 posts)bravenak
(34,648 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)bravenak
(34,648 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)alabama, florida, mississippi, texas.....and california
loss income for farmers who more than likely supported Trump
karma is a bitch
Equinox Moon
(6,344 posts)I wonder if we shift to multiple solutions, such as more home and community gardens.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)Making it much bigger this year on account of our fears of not having cheap, fresh veggies. Cant live like that.
Equinox Moon
(6,344 posts)I plan to expand my garden this year too.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)Equinox Moon
(6,344 posts)Fruit trees and public veggie gardens for anyone to come and eat from. It has been an interesting development.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)We have a really strange growing season. So much daylight that the cabbages are like monsters
Equinox Moon
(6,344 posts)The homeless keep an eye on the free food and the wildlife. It benefits everyone and all of life.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)Well, if they come to eat it I guess we can just let them have what they want. Moose are meaner than bears.
underpants
(182,285 posts)As I've said for years, all this is just talk. When meats (including seafood) veggie hospitality and construction want something done - they don't - it will be done.
Equinox Moon
(6,344 posts)I mean a literal sense.
underpants
(182,285 posts)to make the massive amount of goods that these industries do on a daily basis.
Equinox Moon
(6,344 posts)We might see Americans eating and living a simpler life. Back to the basics and away from mass production. I'm all for it.
Wounded Bear
(58,442 posts)Thanks Trump.
Equinox Moon
(6,344 posts)Yet, maybe the shift will be to a more simple way of living. No more mass production of food stuff. The mega food companies could go out of business. (?)
Wounded Bear
(58,442 posts)I know that literally thousands of acres of good farmland has been plowed under and developed into industry and warehousing within 20 miles of where I live. Will be hard to recover local farming around here. There are a few co-ops and such, and we do farmers markets, so there is some.
Coventina
(26,874 posts)underpants
(182,285 posts)Oh, Trump's ivory tower economic team
We'll see what the meats veggie construction hospitality industries think about this.
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)yallerdawg
(16,104 posts)More like a warning!
bucolic_frolic
(42,681 posts)I had such a conversation with a Trumpie last fall. I said to her, if they start
deporting, every restaurant won't have a dishwasher and there will be no labor
to mow lawns. "Oh, no, that's not a problem, Americans will do those jobs."
Yup.