Traditional Farmer

I just wanted to say, like the sound of your farm and ideas you said below,,,,I Dont remember what area you are from,,,? No need to be specific,,just the general area or state,,,we live in nj

And what comment is that?
The one where he said.....

You mean no one local is willing to work for next to nothing Right?

Or the other one......

They could get plenty of US citizen help IF they would pay a decent wage.

Or even.....

The other option is for the farmer not to have more land than he can handle the crops on.

I can agree in a perfect world we would not need to bring in foreign labor.
H2A works are paid over $10 a hour by law; get free housing; electricity; water; sewerage and transportation to the work place.
What does that equate to; $15 or $20 a hour?

So I would say the farmers are willing to pay; unless you do not think $15 a hour for unskilled labor is not enough.

By Traditional Farmer's thinking we should have NO employees in the U.S.
If farmers should have a place small enough they can handle it with only family help then everyone should play by those rules.
No truck drivers that work for companies; No nurses to help the doctor; When you build no general contractor just hire each trade person separately.

And how about Traditional Farmer getting off that tractor and cutting all that hay with a swing blade sickle. A fruit crop needs to be picked by hand so all farmers should have to harvest all crops by hand to be fair since we can not get any outside help.

The problem is not local workers willing to work for next to nothing.
The problem is locals are not willing to work at all.

No other industry in the USA is allowed the labor practices that large commercial farms are allowed to engage in that I know of,importing people from other countries to come here and basically work for next to slave wages is hardly the right thing to do things for several reasons but the main reason is it cuts the wages that citizens in this country make by having to compete with those folks that don't have to buy a house here,or pay insurance here or pay property and school taxes here.If those large farms had to compete head to head with smaller growers without Gov't assistance the small growers would run them out of business in a hurry.

BTW how many days have you spent picking vegetables in the last couple years for these great wages and great working conditions on farms around your area?

I had no idea that thinking an American employer should pay an American citizen a decent wage would be controversal.Not should it only be "Buy American" It should be "Hire American"
Can you imagine the howling that would be going on if the Gov't bought in cheap foreign labor to work on the shipping docks so why should agriculture be different?No job will ever go without being filled if the employer is willing to ante up the $$$ to make it worthwhile to work it.

No job will ever go without being filled if the employer is willing to ante up the $$$ to make it worthwhile to work it.

I really do not want to be controversial or even argumentative; so I should probably just drop it and move on; BUT

You need to wake up and smell the roses.
I work a job that pays 50k a year straight time with a full benefits package.
With overtime 65 to 100k is possible.
We have had a help wanted sign out for years.
We can not find enough workers.
In fact my company will pay me $250 to talk you into coming to work with us;
And another $250 if you stay 6 months.
And this is a job sitting on your butt in the a/c.

So what kind of $$$ are we talking about you suggest farmers pay workers to pick fruit out in the heat to make it worthwhile for these american workers to get off their lazy butts and apply for the job?

The ranch I rent my apartment from. Has been looking for a barn hand for six months now.Starting pay is 12.50 an hour. With an apartment on the ranch and a truck to drive.Can't find anyone that want's to work. The locals that complain about no jobs or the illegals taking American jobs. Have refused the job. Because they would lose their welfare benefits if they did. Some because it means getting up at 6 AM and working all day.

I would take the job. But with my disability I can't handle it.I would love to be working again.You need to open your eyes. Look around. There are people that won't work. No matter what the pay is.I told one guy about the job. He laughed at me. Said why should I work hard. The government pays me to sit around and not work.

Where is this job? I know a young fella who might be interested.

I worked at a concrete plant for 25 years and we always had a waiting list of people that
wanted to go to work for us and our competitors across town were always trying to hire people both companies paid about the same.What was the difference? A bunch of Idiots ran the plant across town that gave little or no respect to the employees while the manager of our plant was a really good fellow to work for and treated us all really well.We had guys there that had worked for our company for 40 years.Getting good help ain't just the pay some times but it is important.And if these Industrial Farmers have created jobs that are so loathesome and nasty to work at that only starving people from 3rd World countries will work them maybe they need to reaccess what they are doing.

It is here in Texas. I can talk to the foreman. See if he is still looking.

I agree that how people get treated can make a difference in people working for a company.But most Americans have gotten lazy. I am 64 and when I was a kid. It was a disgrace not to have a job.I started out picking cotton.Americans today are some very lazy people.Not all but a good portion are.

I also agree that working conditions can be a factor.

But I know other companies that do the same thing as us and have the same problem.
Heck even the union outfits are having problems finding qualified workers.

When you do find one that is will to show up on time 5 days a week they can not pass the drug or background check.

I got you mixed up with the Billy from western NY. I sure he wouldn't want to move to Texas unless I asked him in the middle of a winter like our last one.

Yes Texas does have some warm summers. 110 is a cool day for most of us.

Poof soon...