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. Trump’s strongest bases of support in the state.Let me see if I have this straight: The centerpiece of your guy's campaign, which was to crack down on immigration, as evidenced by what he said in his declaration of candidacy, you all thought that was just eyewash? The foundation of your business operation, cheap labor, depends on illegal immigration and you were willing to risk that because you thought you'd save a few bucks on taxes?
As for his promises about cracking down on illegal immigrants, many assumed Mr. Trump’s pledges were mostly just talk. But two weeks into his administration, Mr. Trump has signed executive orders that have upended the country’s 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.
...
“If you only have legal labor, certain parts of this industry and this region will not exist,” said Harold McClarty, a fourth-generation farmer in Kingsburg whose operation grows, packs and ships peaches, plums and grapes throughout the country. “If we sent all these people back, it would be a total disaster.”
And you think that that the Trump staffers, many of whom are hostile to all immigrants, including legal ones, are going to go along with you in getting visas approved for your laborers?
I suspect that you guys are growing some other agricultural products and are partaking of them a little too often.
The folks who grow about Mendicino, Humboult counties can afford legal immigrants and citizens to process their product, and the rest of the country doesn't need almonds or strawberries anyway
ReplyDeleteYeah, Trump probably won't get the counted-on California electoral votes in 2020...
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for Humboldt Agriculture we now have ole Beauregard to deal with. Not like it was legal ever anyway though.
ReplyDeleteWhat I can't understand is who the resident expects to staff his Hotels if he cuts off South American Imports.
Bottom line for Chetolini is his own profits, and a lack of hispanic workers will affect his bottom line.
Not counting of course the price of Food, which won't affect him much with his diet of Chicken and Burgers.
Nuts to me, no matter how I look at it.
As "they" say "follow the money".
w3ski
Not just Cali. I've got fruit farming friends (say that three times fast) in MI who are suddenly changing their tune a bit.
ReplyDeleteI've said before that Republicans aren't really against illegal immigrants as a cheap labor source, but fools believe them, and vote for them, and that encourages more pandering to voting fools (e.g., really really Christian conservatives). It ruined the Republican Party.
ReplyDeleteThe Democratic party wants the free votes, but beyond providing a few scraps to jeep those votes doesn't want to improve anyone's life who isn't already a 1%er.
I fail to see the issue, except that farmers (and other industries) won't get cheap labor to exploit....And taxes will be paid and fewer Social Security numbers will be stolen and such.
ReplyDeleteSeriously. Wasn't this what Ceasar Chavez was wanting? People who can't be exploited? Fairer wages and all that? Illegal workers have no voice..no rights, legal ones do.
Or is it just that anything Trump does is always bad?
The issue, according to the farmers, is they guy they voted for is gonna put them out of business. Now, as issues go, that one make me laugh, and then shudder as I consider the knock on effects on food prices. The almond crop being reduced will help the water situation greatly in CA thou.
ReplyDeleteOn the budget front, this move will reduce FICA tax revenues...cause those illegals were paying into the system under false/stolen SS numbers, while they were never going to receive a cent. So Social Security income just dropped slightly...
That farmer wasn't thinking about labor, he heard Trump say that he would get him access to water. Water is currency in California, and we've been in the worst drought in history for years. We're kinda soaked right now, but that doesn't mean the drought is over.
ReplyDeleteThere have been "water wars" in California since I was a kid, and I'm 56 years old. Actually, they've been going on far longer than that.
The Oroville dam, which is busy falling apart right now, was first thought up in 1935 as a way to irrigate the central valley, but the water got hijacked to the growing cities of Southern California as it became clear that the Colorado River wouldn't be enough for all of them.
As for labor, ask Georgia and Alabama how strict anti-immigrant laws work for agricultural states. A whole lot of stuff got grown and never harvested in their little experiment.
I was born and raised in Humboldt County, and although I haven't been there in a while, I have a hard time imagining them being afraid of Sessions. I saw the CAMP helicopter that was supposedly shot down with a deer rifle, and according to the caliper I had in my pocket, the hole was a half inch wide...
-Doug in Oakland
From Kevin Drum & the LA Times it turns out that workers must value their time, like those with capital value the return on their capital. Comes as a shock to the boss class......
ReplyDelete> The LA Times reports that the biggest garlic producer in the country has adopted an intriguing new strategy:
>
> Christopher Ranch, which grows garlic on 5,000 acres in Gilroy, Calif., announced recently that it would hike pay for farmworkers from $11 an hour to $13 hour this year, or 18%, and then to $15 in 2018. At the end of last year, the farm was short 50 workers needed to help peel, package and roast garlic. Within two weeks of upping wages in January, applications flooded in. Now the company has a wait-list 150 people long.
>
> “I knew it would help a little bit, but I had no idea that it would solve our labor problem,” Christopher said. He said the farm has been trying, without success, to draw new workers since 2014. Human resources frantically advertised open farm-labor positions, posting help-wanted ads online and urging employees to ply their networks for potential recruits. Nothing came of it.
>
> Fascinating! Someone should tell the rest of corporate America about this. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that California's farmers are taken aback that President Trump is getting tough on immigration:
>
> Many assumed Mr. Trump’s pledges were mostly just talk. But two weeks into his administration, Mr. Trump has signed executive orders that have upended the country’s 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.
>
Hey bmq251, Southern politicians have been doing the Lucy-with-the-football routine with their "electorate" for a hunnerd years and more. Charlie Brown never learns. And now we're all poor whites, and just as much the suckers, as those in the South.
@dinthebeast, they heard Trump tell them there was no drought, that was the Feds fault instead of the lack of rain. They chose to believe him instead of their lying eyes,
ReplyDeleteStewart Dean: We used to wholesale Christopher Ranch garlic at a natural foods warehouse I managed a few years ago. It wasn't a big seller, but the product was good and the people were easy to deal with.
ReplyDeleteDark Avenger: They knew there was a drought, as they were getting killed by it, but the sort of delusional thinking Trump spouted sounded to them like easing environmental regulations (read that the wholesale theft of the water) that could maybe get their fields irrigated again so they could stop losing money.
-Doug in Oakland
I have been saying for four decades now, that all American Conservatism is about is "cut my taxes." Everything else is just window dressing.
ReplyDelete