October 04, 2006


Cheap Tomatoes

The immigrant/migrant worker population in the Western US has long been one of the things that, IMHO, has kept some prices for produce at pretty low levels, relatively speaking. It's going to be interesting to see how long-term price increases, and the potential failure of agricultural industries are going to affect a desire for the "immigration reform" in the US. It's always been a republican virtue to pick on the weak and defenseless, instead of standing up for everyone. I wonder how it will ultimately play out when tomatoes are $9 a pound?

Bins of Granny Smith apples towered over two conveyor belts at P-R Farms' packing plant. But only one belt moved. P-R Farms, like farms up and down California and across the nation, does not have enough workers to process its fruit.

"We're short by 50 to 75 people," said Pat Ricchiuti, 59, the third-generation owner of P-R Farms. "For the last three weeks, we're running at 50 percent capacity. We saw this coming a couple years ago, but last year and this year has really been terrible."
...
Other industries that depend on immigrant labor, such as landscaping and construction, "are also concerned about the overall availability of labor given demographic trends," he said, adding: "But agriculture is the warning sign, if you will, of structural changes in the economy."

The problem is now reaching crisis proportions, food growers say. As much as 30 percent of the year's pear crop was lost in Northern California, growers estimate. ...

That certainly sounds like it's going to translate into higher prices to me in the long run.

Clearly the "immigration reform" agenda was another facet of the 1600 Crew "All Fear, All the Time" agenda. Interestingly, it looks like another failure to be added to the legacy of the incredibly incompetant failure that Karl Rove has gotten into the Oval Office twice. It's only a matter of time before the republican war on the middle class provides all the agricultural labor needed ... for Mexico and California.
posted by Jo Fish on 10.04.06 at 05:47 AM





Comments:

I think this is a bad argument for our side. People should be paid a living wage whether they are US citizens or not. If the farm workers were paid a living wage, the price of food would soar regardless. But since these farms are run by the good folk in the midwest, I'm sure the "free-market" Republicans would be more than happy to subsidize the costs.

I think pro-immigration arguments should be founded on the principles of our country, the contributions of the immigrants, the vast room available for them, etc., etc. That and we should be attacking the racists who are afraid of brown people coming in and taking over, because there are plenty of those ***holes involved in the debate.

 posted by: chatterbox on 10.04.06 at 10:38 AM [permalink]

I support immigration but tomatoes? I can't see how I'm paying $3 a pound for tomatoes and they are paying what? Around $8/hr to pick?... how many tomatoes get picked in an hour? The tomatoe racket must be very profitable.

 posted by: Terry Green on 10.04.06 at 11:16 AM [permalink]

Turn to the Free Market! Demand for labor high and supply low - raise wages! Opps, that would be a real free market not a Republican one. Guess W will just have to let in more immigrants......

 posted by: fred on 10.04.06 at 11:45 AM [permalink]

30% of last year's crop lost, because they wouldn't pay a living wage to americans?

The cost of picking produce, relative to planting, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, transportation, refridgeration, etc... is incredibly low. You could pay pickers $10 an hour without resulting in $9 tomatoes.

How many tomatoes can be picked in one our? 100? 500?

Lets say they are slow and pick 100.

it they were getting $4 an hour before, that's labor costs of 4 cents per tomato.

if they get $10 an hour, that's 10 cents per tomato.

OH NO, not an increase of (oh my god!) 6 cents per tomato!

It's PAINFULLY OBVIOUS that Americans could pick tomatoes at a living wage without hurting the economy (it would actually help the local ecnomies immensely).

 posted by: ME on 10.04.06 at 12:26 PM [permalink]

Oe of the basic principles of Coservatism is cheap labor and high prices to maximize wealth for the owner class.

How can owners become more wealthy if labor is paid a living wage?

I am discounting the Republican fairy tale of the "family farm" since there are not very many of them left. The family farm is becomig a folk myth, like Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan. The family farm has been dying for years, victim of social improvement as technological advances made city life and work more attractive.

"How are you going to keep them down on the farm after they see Paris"? was a popular song in post-WWI America and has been symbolic ever since. The daily drudgery of 14 hour days, 7 days a week just isn't attractive to most younger people after they see the advantages of a more technologically advanced life.

In truth, it is Agribusiness that is the beneficiary of cheap labor.

posted by: Lurch on 10.04.06 at 01:20 PM [permalink]

They may have other problems to worry about....

http://grist.org/comments/food/2006/10/04/globalwarming/

 posted by: donna on 10.04.06 at 09:43 PM [permalink]


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