How do you believe undocumented farmworkers impact local communities?

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Farming is becoming more and more automated so there will be much more automation and farmers will have to pay higher wages for employees.

Some will say that citizens don't want these jobs but the truth is they won't take them because they are too low paid. That's why you see in roughneck jobs drilling for oil and fracking quite a few college graduates with degrees completely unrelated to their jobs

[Asker]

A lot of crop picking cannot be automated because the machines ruin the crop. It is NOT a solution to anything.

[Opinion Owner]

When california raised the minimum wage the likes of McDonald's, KFC, Burger King and others found a way around it with self ordering kiosks and I'm sure if it came down to it the farming industry would find machines to do the work. What a lot countries do is give seasonal work visas for the harvest season, so a migrant worker comes in for a few months and then goes home. In dubai and Saudi Arabia seasonal workers from africa have to bring their own body bag and enough money to ship their dead bodies home.

[Asker]

I can promise you that if it were possible to pick some crops using machines, people that own orchards and Fields would be all over it in a second. There are no such machines and no such equipment because even though it has been tried thousands of times, the machines that have been tested have one thing in common which is they destroy the crop while picking it. Picking is something that has to be done by human beings.

[Opinion Owner]

For now maybe but things change fast https://youtu.be/Y5ESBDJ1UqE?si=t54rkLotixHATluH

[dustybiker2]

They fill needed jobs that only benefit communities.

[Sevenpointfive]

you don't know a damn thing about farming. farmers have million dollar machines to crop their land and don't require any undocumented workers. its never been more family based in the last 50 years!

[Asker]

Ok, link to some articles or videos about those supposed machines.

[Sevenpointfive]

[Asker]

Interesting - I take it those are robot tilling machines or something like that?

[Sevenpointfive]

i don't know for what crop they're for and this is not typical farming, but i'd say that every sizable farm has trucks this big. i remember going to a friend of a friend's house to hang out. and we'd hang out in the barn next to this massive john deere truck. it took up the entire barn. the land and the truck were his mothers. the parents were divorced, but the father would work the land by himself. their son was a piece of shit. he wasn't spoiled, but he was worthless.

[Asker]

I am fairly sure they are used to prepare the earth for planting. Not sure if they are autonomous or not but if they are it is a nice feature. However, they do not, as far as I know, plant or pick crops because generally this is done by people because of the high costs of such machines. , and the possibility of crop damage. Eventually this will happen, but it will take awhile longer.

Saffron, vanilla, chocolate, palm oil, and cottonseed oil are all only picked by hand because of machine damage. Many other food crops are mostly hand-picked because it actually is cheaper, and there is a lot less damage

[Sevenpointfive]

it does depend on the crop. and it depends on how many harvests the crop will yield before the end of the season. i do know that if a farmer is caught with an illegal working their land they are fined. it's a lot more than a traffic ticket. so they tend to steer clear of undocumented workers

[Asker]

Well, at least in California, apparently there is little or no enforcement because virtually all crops that are picked are picked by illegals. Even the labor contractors, the guys that organize groups of illegal laborers, tend to be illegal themselves - I have known a few of them.

All of these people work extremely hard at these very difficult jobs. They are not criminals - they are laborers and there is no shame in that.

[Sevenpointfive]

no doubt it happens. i'm not saying that it doesn't. i think the scale of it is exaggerated immensely. and it happening full scale in california doesn't surprise me one bit.

my mother and father used to pick cotton when they were young. it was child labor but they did it. california is so backwards that i can see them doing something like that. it won't last much longer. so, to your question.

when it happens, and these illegals disappear, there might be a shortage in some areas for a month or two. i think california will be at the forefront of getting illegals work visas. illegals will have the opportunity to start the process of becoming a citizen through the proper channels. i don't think communities will be impacted much, if at all. there is a very real decision to be made here by employers. you pay people for what they're worth or you suffer. and i don't care if that worker is an illegal with a visa. if they are more productive then use them over a u. s. citizen., but pay them both equally and fairly.

[Asker]

If the big companies that own all the land actually paid illegal workers the prevailing wage, their stock would tank ver quickly. They are set up to thrive on very low labor costs... so...

[Sevenpointfive]

and there it is. it's the greedy bureaucracy and not the farmer. the farmer will pay but the people that sell their product won't. that grocery store is fine making a nickel profit and giving the farmer half. it's a very low profit margin for farmers. they're forced to make that up somehow.

i see all of the produce going to waste at the store. it gets thrown away. however, we do it right in my state and there's little waste. it's a good system and very earth to table. i am actually very proud of my grocery store! they utilize small farms, family businesses and cultivate community culture throughout texas. it truly is an amazing company. i have no doubt that they help struggling farmers. the only thing that killed us was supply chain.

[Asker]

sounds good. The produce is very processed.

[Sevenpointfive]

i'm not even sure what that means anymore "processed". the organic section looks exactly the same. i live in a community that has lots of farmers and they will sell their products at the market. it looks a little different and it's pricey but it's always there as an option. we live in an area where the soil is really good. the only problem is we have a lot of wildlife and they will eat everything

[Asker]

I am not so sure either now that you mention it.

[beefcakebradybatson]

Harvesting crops and working in construction, which strengthens the U. S. economy.

[Syntosi]

Mostly just keep them in business. Americans do not want to work these jobs so either undocumented workers does it or the job is simply not done and the farmer goes bankrupt and the community dies because a lack of business.

[DrPepper12]

Paying more in taxes than they take in services

Carrying the local economy as consumers

Contributing to diverse community

[lightbulb27]

essential to keep prices down. but they should be documented.

I dont' like idea of unknown people, possibly being trapped/abused/imprisoned... or worse, they are dangerous, going around my community.