NY Times: "Short On Labor, US Farms Shift To Mexico

[muntrv]

By JULIA PRESTON
Published: September 5, 2007
CELAYA, Mexico — Steve Scaroni, a farmer from California, looked across a luxuriant field of lettuce here in central Mexico and liked what he saw: full-strength crews of Mexican farm workers with no immigration problems.

Farming since he was a teenager, Mr. Scaroni, 50, built a $50 million business growing lettuce and broccoli in the fields of California, relying on the hands of immigrant workers, most of them Mexican and many probably in the United States illegally.

But early last year he began shifting part of his operation to rented fields here. Now some 500 Mexicans tend his crops in Mexico, where they run no risk of deportation.

“I’m as American red-blood as it gets,” Mr. Scaroni said, “but I’m tired of fighting the fight on the immigration issue.”

A sense of crisis prevails among American farmers who rely on immigrant laborers, more so since immigration legislation in the United States Senate failed in June and the authorities announced a crackdown on employers of illegal immigrants. An increasing number of farmers have been testing the alternative of raising crops across the border where there is a stable labor supply, growers and lawmakers in the United States and Mexico said.

SEE MORE AT LINK BELOW
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/us/05export.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Hmm

My family has been farming since early 1866 in Alabama. I'm not there - I was raised in NY and moved to NJ about a year and a half ago. But we still own that farm. . . as well as land in GA and MS. We've never had to pay people 'slave' wages. Being a 'black' family - there was a sense of - I'll pay you a fair wage, you don't have to engage in 'slavery' via the share cropping system. That fair wage today for full time year round employees is between $15-$25 an hour.

You know what? We are successful. You pay a man/woman a decent wage, give him/her great working conditions and we all win. Give someone their dignity - you win even more.

Do you know the kind of subsidies that farmers get? That guy in California is just greedy. He could hire college and high school students at $10 - $15 an hour each summer if he wasn't being greedy. But he's made an active choice NOT to - because heaven forbid it cuts into his $50 Million a year 'INDUSTRY'.

As someone who benefits from that business - I've no sympathy for these people that use, use, use. And I'd bet you - I'd just bet you he's pumping Americans full of steroids, pesticides, and fertilizers.

You can be a farmer, farm without using steroids, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, treat people with dignity, pay them a living wage - and prosper. We may not make $50 million dollars a year . . .

But knowing that we play by the rules, treat people as human beings, and don't poison other Americans - it's worth it's weight in gold.

[katsy]

3. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[stillcool]

2. wow...what a good idea..

I never thought of all the businesses out-sourcing, as an immigration solving problem...but gosh darn, it just might work.