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Originally published in the March 28, 2004 issue of the Alamance Independent
DO WE OWE FARMERS?
March 30, 2004
Do we owe farmers? Or, do they owe us?
Some of us living in proximity of farms, particularly, in San Joaquin Valley or Inland Empire, ask themselves these questions about each time when a terrible smell of manure brought with gusty California winds penetrates the closed doors and windows of our homes and finds its way to our bedrooms and dinning rooms. If my part-time amateur-gardener can apply pre-processed and odorless natural fertilizer in order to not discomfort my neighbors, why it is so that full-time professionals engaged in farming cannot pay similar favor to thousands of desperate residents who were forced, by urban sprawl, to buy a house in one of the country's (former) farmlands? Is it because American farming is so technologically backward that it cannot move beyond what was considered the state of the art three quarters of a century ago? If so, then what led to this current technological paralysis in the industry that remembers pioneers like August and Ole Hovland who in 1909 invented the "traveling thresher" that became what we know today as combine?
The answer: shortsighted policy of the U.S. government. Here are the details.
Farmers in the U.S. have been under special protection of federal and several state legislatures since over a hundred years, now. Numerous laws were passed to alleviate or neutralize healthy market mechanisms that would otherwise drive many of them out of business. As of today, many individual farms would not survive if it weren't for federal subsidies they are receiving, compliments of American taxpayers. As it weren't enough, they demand now that millions of illegal aliens be allowed to stay in the U.S. indefinitely so that they (the farmers, that is) can cheaply hire them to do the job they (the farmers) are unable to, or don't have enough machinery to. Per Associated Press (see [1]) one apple grower said: "I have a crop that needs to be picked. It can't be done mechanically, so I need workers. [...] Agriculture needs a work force. If we're going to be scrutinized by the federal government, then we need a work force that's dependable."
The fact that mass illegal immigration is slowly but systematically wrecking this country and giving it up to Mexico, seems like the least of farmers' concerns. Not even explosive population growth, fueled mostly by mass immigration, particularly in agriculture intensive areas like central California, that causes steady shrinking of farmlands and converting them into residential suburbs, seems to disturb them. Per Lou Dobbs (see [2]), "[t]he U.S. population is growing by more than 3 million each year and loses 3 million acres of farmland annually. Food and agriculture generate $40 billion a year in export income for the U.S., but at the present rate, we won't be exporting food at all by 2025." Never mind the slowing down of progress in technology that use of the abundant "cheap" labor where the job, ostensibly, "can't be done mechanically" must inevitably cause on long run.
Steven A. Camarota, Director of Research at Center for Immigration Studies, in his testimony for the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims on June 19, 2002 (see [3]) said: "There is strong evidence that in industries as diverse as construction, garment manufacturing, and agriculture an increasing reliance on unskilled illegal-alien labor is slowing productivity gains and causing the United States to fall behind its international competitors. Unskilled immigration acts as a subsidy by artificially holding down labor costs by increasing the supply of labor. Businesses tend to want subsidies and often grow dependent on them. But like any subsidy, illegal immigration prevents innovation and causes the industry in question to lose its competitive edge in the long term. "
Imagine where would we be today if the government were equally protectionist about American auto industry as it is about farmers. We would be still driving prohibitively expensive gas guzzlers of mediocre reliability and performance. So, it must surprise no one that American farming is not competitive any more. The methods and technology many farmers use, particularly those in perpetual need of migrant workers, lags far behind those of agriculturally developed countries. Their idea of making food cheaply follows antiquated patterns of the bygone centuries and is not based on progress in organization, science, and technology, but on multiplying effort of unskilled laborers. With this kind of progress-thwarting agenda, crop picking "can't be done mechanically" (or so they say) so that opening the border for hordes of "cheap" migrant workers appears like the only viable option. And the cycle closes; more supply of "cheap" labor will further delay any meaningful progress in the affected areas of agricultural production.
But the current proposal known as the Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act that aims to "regularize" estimated half million illegal alien farm workers (see [4]) will, if voted into the law, surpass in its idiocy everything in agriculture that the federal government had done before. It will stall technological progress in farming for decades to come. It will fuel further population growth as the "regularized" migrant workers bring to the U.S. their numerous relatives and the so-called "immigrant rights" groups make sure that poor "migrants" don't suffer because the American-Mexican border "crossed them" and their families. It will contribute to further lowering of living standards of average Americans, as it's already happening in the areas infested with "cheap" migrant workers, like "agricultural Yuba County, which [...] has the [California's] lowest personal income level " (quotation from Dan Walters, see [5]). And it will solve nothing on long run as the "regularized" workers will look for other more desirable jobs as soon as they and their families root themselves in the U.S.
Texas may serve as a paradoxical example here that clearly shows absurdity of the mentioned above proposal. Despite its being second-largest, after California, receiver of mass and mostly illegal "migration" from Mexico and other Latin-American countries, with current illegal population close to 2 million, about every year around harvest the Lone Star State experiences same serious difficulties in hiring "cheap" farm workers. Per Associated Press (see [6]), Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs once said: "There's a huge labor problem. [...] It's harder and harder to get people to work outside." Bruce Frasier, president of Dixondale Farms in Carrizo Springs, was quoted saying that he has trouble finding workers to harvest crops for $9 per hour. "If I don't find a remedy real soon I don't know if I'll be in business next year" he said. Hmm. And who said that those millions of illegal "migrants" are here to do the jobs that Americans won't?
Majority of farmers are hardworking people, some of them being desperate because of the circumstances and tough choices they have to make in their endeavors. But they have no mandate to pursue their goals without regard to other Americans as they already get more than their fair share from the taxpayers. If they cannot prosper without damaging the country then, perhaps, they should move to another venue. We are off-shoring hi-tech high-paying jobs (including those critical to American defense) in droves and hundreds of thousands of highly trained professionals can't find employment these days. Perhaps, we should consider off-shoring some less technologically advanced food production, instead.
So, please contact your U.S. Representatives today and urge them to oppose the Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act. The competitiveness of American agriculture, as well as good smell in your bedroom and dining room, may depend on your resolve.
[1] Raids on illegal immigrants vex farmers
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001799556_farms24m.html[2] Time to tackle huddled masses
http://www.nydailynews.com/business/story/128162p-114670c.html[3] Making Interior Enforcement Work
http://www.cis.org/articles/2002/sactestimony602.html[4] Bush on sidelines in farmworker bill debate
http://www.thedesertsun.com/news/stories2004/national/20040325002557.shtml[5] 'New California' not a projection, but an inescapable, difficult reality
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/columns/walters/story/2797859p-3592800c.html[6] Texas rural leaders back migrant worker program
http://www.amarillonet.com/stories/013101/tex_ruralleaders.shtml
FURTHER READINGSGuest Worker Programs for the 21st Century
http://www.socqrl.niu.edu/forest/SOCI270/GuestWorkers.html
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