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Georgia Republicans recently passed a very harsh anti-immigrant measure into law, successfully driving a lot of undocumented workers out of the state. Republicans who championed the measure said the new law would improve Georgia’s economy.
As Jay Bookman explained, now they’re saying something different.
The resulting manpower shortage has forced state farmers to leave millions of dollars’ worth of blueberries, onions and other crops unharvested and rotting in the fields. It has also put state officials into something of a panic at the damage they’ve done to Georgia’s largest industry.
Barely a month ago, you might recall, Gov. Nathan Deal welcomed the TV cameras into his office as he proudly signed HB 87 into law. Two weeks later, with farmers howling, a scrambling Deal was forced to order a hasty investigation into the impact of the law he had just signed, as if all this had come as quite a surprise to him.
The results of that investigation have now been released. According to survey of 230 Georgia farmers conducted by Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, farmers expect to need more than 11,000 workers at some point over the rest of the season, a number that probably underestimates the real need, since not every farmer in the state responded to the survey.
The largest industry in the state, and arguably the most important to the state’s economy, suddenly can’t function the way it should. Republicans were warned this might be a problem, but they approved their anti-immigrant proposal anyway, and no doubt felt awfully good about themselves for being “tough” on illegal immigration.
That the state’s economy will suffer as a consequence apparently never occurred to them, despite the warnings from the agricultural industry.
Deal, the freshman far-right governor who was elected despite extensive financial difficulties and failed business ventures, isn’t quite sure what to do now.
The pain this is causing is real. People are going to lose their crops, and in some cases their farms. The small-town businesses that supply those farms with goods and services are going to suffer as well. For economically embattled rural Georgia, this could be a major blow.
In fact, with a federal court challenge filed last week, you have to wonder whether state officials aren’t secretly hoping to be rescued from this mess by the intervention of a judge. But given how the Georgia law is drafted and how the Supreme Court ruled in a recent case out of Arizona, I don’t think that’s likely.
We’re going to reap what we have sown, even if the farmers can’t.
I often wonder what Republicans would do if they thought through the consequences of their own policies. I’m afraid we’ll never know.
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Tigershark on June 24, 2011 5:01 PM:
To attract workers they could raise wages, right? Don't they believe in capitalism and the law of supply and demand? Isn't that what Republicanism is all about?
hell's littlest angel on June 24, 2011 5:05 PM:
Common sense, AKA stupidity.
Gummo on June 24, 2011 5:06 PM:
Hard for me to feel sorry for the dumbasses who drafted this punitive, petty law and even harder to feel sorry for the even bigger dumbasses that eagerly voted for them.
But Tigershark is right: let the bastards pay a decent legal wage, and then see what happens.
Danp on June 24, 2011 5:07 PM:
The focus of this story is wrong. You might as well complain that the economy is destroyed because the slaves all left. We've long passed the time when farm labor should be exempt from minimum wages.
Tom Dibble on June 24, 2011 5:10 PM:
Well, you don't see rampant wildfires in Georgia, now, do you?!?
DAY on June 24, 2011 5:10 PM:
And how is this different from what the House Republicans are planning to do with the "debt crisis"?
When I heard about this anti immigrant law a few weeks ago, my FIRST thought was who is gonna pick the crops? But then I live north of the Mason-Dixon Line, which automatically adds 20 IQ points. . .
Lance on June 24, 2011 5:15 PM:
And do a single one of these Georgia farmers think that next time, they'll vote Democrat?
Doubt it.
Matt on June 24, 2011 5:15 PM:
I wish I could afford to laugh at this as much as I'd like to, but since I eat food that I don't personally grow myself, what I can afford has a lot to do with the matter at hand.
Of course, it's true that some good could come of this. We may finally get to test John McCain's Tomato Theory--that Americans (as opposed to magical Mexicans) are not physically or mentally capable of picking vegetables, even for $50/hr. ("You can't do it, my friend!")
Or, we might decide that gosh, them foreign fellers didn't mean no harm, so it'd be the neighborly thing to let 'em pick the vegetables they so dearly love picking.
Unfortunately, now the price of returning to either the old normal or the new normal is a few hundred farms, and a summer of $12 cucumbers. Yaaaaaay.
Matt on June 24, 2011 5:20 PM:
But then I live north of the Mason-Dixon Line, which automatically adds 20 IQ points. . .
Well, bless your heart. (That's Missisippian for "get bent.")
I know, I know, you're not really a bigot...
Paul in NC on June 24, 2011 5:26 PM:
I know it's irresponsible and we can't do it, but this is a perfect example of why progressives should get out of the way and let them have at, so the American people can experience conservative Nirvana for a few years. It would be the end of our special brand of 21st century American conservatism. Unfortunately, it would destroy the economy in the process.
bdop4 on June 24, 2011 5:28 PM:
"To attract workers they could raise wages, right? Don't they believe in capitalism and the law of supply and demand? Isn't that what Republicanism is all about?" - Tigershark
Heh. Unfortunately, conservatives' special definition of "capitalism" only allows for the reduction of worker's wages and benefits. Anything else is un-amurikan.
hell's littlest angel on June 24, 2011 5:30 PM:
Being above the Mason-Dixon line doesn't mean you have a higher IQ, but it will bump your SAT score up quite a bit.
Redshift on June 24, 2011 5:31 PM:
I often wonder what Republicans would do if they thought through the consequences of their own policies.
Oh, but they do! They always know exactly what the results will be. They're nearly always wrong, and often disastrously so, but not because they haven't thought about it, just because they're impervious to evidence and any failures are always someone else's fault.
Now if you were to wonder what they'd do if they actually accepted the consequences of their policies, why, then you might get somewhere.
bdop4 on June 24, 2011 5:31 PM:
"progressives should get out of the way and let them have at, so the American people can experience conservative Nirvana for a few years." - Paul in NC
I've reached the same conclusion. It appears that most Murkans need to experience the conservative cattle prod first-hand before they get up and actually do anything about it.
Objective Dem on June 24, 2011 5:37 PM:
Tigershark is thinking about the good version of Republicans who would raise wages to obtain more workers. Unfortunately, I think the last one was spotted in upper Maine back in 1997.
I will bet a pound of fresh strawberries that one of the Georgia's state legislators will propose making unemployed people work the fields in order to qualify for unemployment benefits.
hell's littlest angel on June 24, 2011 5:41 PM:
"progressives should get out of the way and let them have at, so the American people can experience conservative Nirvana for a few years." - Paul in NC
Yeah, the American people won't like it. And then they'll blame it on the commies, darkies and queers.
-syzygy- on June 24, 2011 5:47 PM:
Perhaps the farming community should appeal to the Tea Party crowd and their ilk for volunteer labor. After all, it was (in part) the latter's idea to keep out dirty brown people who take advantage of welfare and social programs and steal from the 'real' 'muricuns.
Old Uncle Dave on June 24, 2011 5:50 PM:
So much for the right wing meme of immigrants taking jobs that 'murican workers want.
pokeybob on June 24, 2011 5:55 PM:
I think that there will be no consequences for the people of Georgia. The fine folks who voted for their lawmakers probably don't eat fruits or vegetables. Or Mexican food. Pass the bacon bits, please.
Constance Reader on June 24, 2011 6:02 PM:
Sure, the farmers could start paying wages that attract Murican pickers (except that Muricans are above such menial work as picking produce and cleaning hotel rooms and mowing lawns). But that extra expense to the farmers will get passed to the consumers, which means that those strawberries will cost 2 or 3 three times what they do now. So consumers will stop buying them. And we're right back to where we were before -- farmers going broke and real Muricans losing their jobs.
martin on June 24, 2011 6:27 PM:
As we're about to have the same problem here in Alabama (unless a lawsuit intervenes), I look forward to asking the one question that needs to be answered every time there is a debate over undocumented workers: "How much more do you want to pay for food? From the fields to the processors to the grocery to the restaurants, How much more do you want to pay?"
Th on June 24, 2011 6:43 PM:
Georgia sent in the people on probation already and quickly learned you really have to be in shape to do this kind of work. Nearly killed the guys.
zeitgeist on June 24, 2011 6:46 PM:
I'll enjoy a good laugh a Georgia's expense for a moment, letting them rot with their crops and their economy in the poison of their own racial hatred and myopic greed.
And I'll gladly point out that in general, Republicans need to read more and from a broader viewpoint: while Eric Schlosser is mainly known for "Fast Food Nation," years ago he also wrote "Reefer Madness," about black markets in America, including the black market for labor and how it props up the agricultural sector.
I have long thought that America will be shocked when it cracks down on immigration to find lettuce selling for $6 a head and the price of strawberries tripling.
But in the end, this is a tricky issue of progressives because we tend to speak for the poor and those on fixed incomes -- people who need low food costs. And we tend to have empathy for illegals, fleeing poor conditions in their own countries and willing to work for something better. But the real answer here is that our food should not be harvested by black market labor; fieldworkers should make minimum wages and have health care and safety protection and work hour protections. And if that happens, the price of many of the healthiest foods goes way, way up to where affordability becomes a real issue and food-price driven inflation soars to politically unpalatable levels.
I'm not sure how we transition from where we are now to where we ideally should be, but I suspect no matter how carefully done (and Georgia clearly didn't even worry about being careful, hence my lack of sympathy) it will not be without some pain.
Th on June 24, 2011 7:05 PM:
Most of the work is piece work and the guys who do it all the time make above minimum. The people who don't do this kind of work normally are the ones who make less than that.
mellowjohn on June 24, 2011 7:11 PM:
as tom lehrer sang almost 50 years ago:
"Should Americans pick crops?
(CA senator) George (Murphy) says "No,
'cause no one but a mexican would stoop so low."
And after all, even in Egypt, the pharaohs
Had to import
Hebrew braceros."
kd bart on June 24, 2011 7:13 PM:
By the next election in November 2012, Georgia farmers will have convinced themselves that Obama and the Demon-crats are responsible for their financial ruin.
Al Swearengen on June 24, 2011 7:25 PM:
You guys act like voting Republican is some choice a lot of Southerners make. It's not a choice, it's their religion. You can't shake faith with pesky facts.
Lifelong Dem on June 24, 2011 7:54 PM:
I'm wondering what impact this might have on food prices in the next few months.
Decatur Dem on June 24, 2011 8:34 PM:
To Matt @ 5:20~
Thanks for beating me to the punch. Lord, I do tire of informing self-satisfied citizens of other regions that we don't all eat dirt and marry our cousins down here. We do the best we can, "A Bright Blue Dot in a Very Red State" as the bumper decal has it.
Oh, and there's this: Maine Gov. Paul LePage. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Former Pennsylvania Sen. and current Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum. Minnesota Rep. and current Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. Arizona Sen. John McCain. Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch. Arizona Sen. John Kyl. California Rep. Darrell Issa. Iowa Rep. Steve King. New York Rep. Steve King. Yada, yada, yada. We in the South have enough to answer for. Please don't try to saddle us with all of the blame, thanks very much.
Decatur Dem on June 24, 2011 8:37 PM:
Of course that's NY Rep. Pete King.
zeitgeist on June 24, 2011 8:46 PM:
allow me to speak for the 80% of Iowa outside of his district and say that you are welcome to deliver Steve King to New York.
xando foote on June 24, 2011 8:51 PM:
This type of GOP overreach is hardly novel.
GA just joined WI, MI, OH, IN, ME and FL, et al.
Thanks to the GOP for conceding the 2012 elections.
J Diaz on June 24, 2011 9:33 PM:
Everyone is looking at this wrong.... if there is a shortage in labor by however many thousands of people mentioned and it is affecting the state economy, then they need to see how many people are on unemployment in that state, and fill the positions! If you are on unemployment living off the government, you can't be choosy about your work, take what is there, if you want a better job, keep looking, but in the mean time, here's a way to make your money!
Dave Swenson on June 24, 2011 9:50 PM:
Steve,
Re: This statement: "The largest industry in the state, and arguably the most important to the state’s economy,..."
Goodness gracious! Agriculture accounts for less than 1 percent of Georgia GDP. It is 1/12th the size of the state's manufacturing sector. Your points were well made, but the Georgia economy is not going to be crippled by the facts stated -- nor is the overall agriculture economy. Large fractions of their production is in conventional crops that are mechanically harvested.
pluege on June 24, 2011 9:56 PM:
I often wonder what Republicans would do if they thought through...
should have stopped right there. attributing rational thought to republicans is a really stupid notion.
Mnemosyne on June 24, 2011 10:10 PM:
Most of the work is piece work and the guys who do it all the time make above minimum.
But that's why it's traditionally been done by migrants: there's no such thing as year-round farm work, even here in sunny Southern California. There are harvesting seasons where there's work, and then there are off-seasons where there's no work.
Traditionally, migrant workers have used that off-time to return home and get work there until the picking season starts again, but now that we're militarizing the borders, that's becoming harder and harder for them.
Sarafina on June 24, 2011 10:35 PM:
"But Tigershark is right: let the bastards pay a decent legal wage, and then see what happens."
One of two things will happen:
1) farmers will go under
or
2) they will only plant what they and their family can harvest; I believe it's called subsistence farming in other places.
Either way, no more piles of veggies year round at your supermarket. Maybe not even in the summer.
Farming cannot be done by hand for a living wage. That's why slavery existed as long as it did. Mechanization is needed, and machines are expensive.
Morgan Warstler on June 24, 2011 10:46 PM:
Kick people off the dole, and there will be plenty of folks to pick crops.
That is where the logic goes, no way around it.
toowearyforoutrage on June 24, 2011 11:04 PM:
Here in Maryland people pay good money to pick their own blueberries, strawberries, and apples.
They taste better and the farmer gets more than a supermarket would pay.
Letting blueberries rot on the vine is either a sign of ignorance or an act of spite. (Granted, some farms may not be a reasonable distance from sufficiently dense populations to pick enough for personal use.)
When food gets expensive, I might grow some of my own. It's too cheap to be worth my time. $6.00 / head for lettuce? Hand me a hoe. Locavores shall spring up everywhere.
Decatur and Matt, face the facts:
Southerners are dumb.
West Virginians have horrible dental hygiene and cars up on cinderblocks.
A thick layer of stinky smog covers New Jersey and mysteriously does not cross the state border.
Every New Yorker is a potty-mouth.
Californians are tan, rather flighty and talk funny.
Minnesotans are hopelessly naieve.
Utah is laden with misogynistic bigamists.
By law every Texan wears boots and a ten gallon hat.
Nevada is just full of hedonists.
Maine is composed entirely of lobster-obsessed longshoremen and Pepperidge Farm cookie salesmen.
Massachusetts hosts Chardonnay sipping arugula salad feasts nightly. BYOshrimpfork.
All of these are true. No exceptions.
To deny it is to ruin our fun by stating the flippin' obvious. Gawd. Buzzkill anyone?
yellowdog on June 24, 2011 11:37 PM:
@Tom Dibble 6-24 5 PM
I realize this comment was facetious (in reference to McCain's claims about Arizona) - but the fact is that South Georgia has suffered a series of major wildfires in 2011 - So far, Deal has not blamed them on departing immigrants. However, GOP control of the state will continue to be a nightmare for small communities, even if the immigration legislation is reversed. Deal has no idea how the state will solve its water problems or deal with current and future droughts. He and his allies in Congress, like Kingston, want to eviscerate food safety legislation--meaning that peanut processors will be free to start another public health crisis. Small peanut farmers in Georgia cannot take another hit like that--which dampened consumer demand for their products. Deal's party cannot get decent funding for the port of Savannah--even though Deal has argued for it as a major job-catalyst for the region. Same for CDC. Deal will also continue long-term GOP policies of cutting education and health. Deal wants the state to do a living impression of Alabama. For the rural communities of the state, that is hardly a happy thought. How much more can they take?
Bob M on June 24, 2011 11:40 PM:
I don't think agriculture is just 1% of Georgia's GDP, but maybe the commenter meant the crops affected.
Here's a humorous point from "A Look at Georgia Agriculture", put out by the USDA:
•Agriculture contributes more than $67 billion, or about 12%, annually to Georgia’s $787 billion
dollar economic output
(I'll let you do the math.)
From http://www.agclassroom.org/kids/stats/georgia.pdf
Sean Scallon on June 25, 2011 2:33 AM:
I'm confused here. I thought Progressives were supposed the exploitation of labor. So are you insisting Georgia repeal its immigration law so the Hispanics can get back in the fields and work for barely subsistence wages?
Before we all cry boo hoo for the farmers it should be pointed out that your new "allies" are not Old McDonalds by any stretch of the imagination. These quite wealthy, very big growers who used federal subsides and cheap, illegal labor to get rich. Maybe it was enlightened conservatives who told them the gravy train is over with, and now you're unhappy about it?
The only problem is Gov. Deal is panicking instead of telling the growers the state isn't going to look the other way while they break the law and exploit their workers and they have to raise their wages if they want to attract actual Georgians to work in the fields. Instead he's willing to consider using prison labor (which by Georgia law, can be used for free) to pick the rotting crops. But he also knows images of black prisoners picking cotton in the hot sun wearing chains won't go over too well either. Plus, what private business do you know of get the advantage of having a free labor force at its beck and call?
This mess reminds me of Edward Abbey's statement: "Liberals want their cheap cause and conservatives want their cheap labor."
Doug on June 25, 2011 7:14 AM:
Sean, you seem to have missed the point. At this point in time we "liberals" are stuck between two bad choices: (relatively) inexpensive im/migrant labor or higher food prices that will affect the poor, an ever-increasing segment of the WORKING population.
The intelligent thing to do would be a two-pronged attack; bring farm larborers into the minimum wage system over a five-ten year period, while enacting tax policies that encourage businesses to spend a greater proportion of their income on wages; ie, marginal tax rates.
Neither will happen in the forseeable future, but it's nice to see that some of those old adages ARE true: Experience IS the best teacher...
Ransom on June 25, 2011 8:24 AM:
Assuming that the Repubs were ignorant of what might happen may be making an ass of u and me. Shock Doctrine anyone? if small farmers go bankrupt because of this, who is going to buy them up? Just sayin....
JohnJay60 on June 25, 2011 11:19 AM:
I am seeing several good points coming up in this dialogue. Capitalism by its very definition has a self-correcting solution to labor shortage: raise wages. This will indeed lead to a tiny increase of food costs (in its final, processed form) but will put significant $ back into pockets of legal farmworkers and thus into US economy. Net-net, there will be less money leaving America's borders and despite a slight bump in food prices it should be an improvement.
The challenge seems to be in making this jump in one giant leap, with no transition period to establish a mechanism for farm labor to align with the required wages. A lot of good ideas appear terrible in the first few months or years because society had grown up around the old less-than-ideal assumptions. This argues in favor of a strong national policy on immigration that will provide transition periods and national standards. Did these former workers move from Georgia to Florida, further depressing farm wages here?
John Ruff on June 25, 2011 11:36 AM:
Like my Grandmother always said "Whenever there's a Republican in office, the country goes down the drain." She's 93 so I think she knows what she's talking about.
What's happened in GA, and other states like AZ, is nothing but racism put into action.
May the white Republicans in the South suffer, and may we in the North keep learning from their fuck-ups.
Sean Scallon on June 25, 2011 11:51 AM:
Or Doug, perhaps someday somebody is going to invent a machine which can harvest onions and that solves labor/price problem as it has done with commodities like wheat or corn. Whye this has not been done with certain crops compared makes one suspicious as of the nature of certain growers and agribusinesses and their clout.
zandru on June 25, 2011 12:11 PM:
Danp had it right when he brought the term "slavery" into the argument.
A few weeks back, I read an article in the ABQ Journal talking about how agriculture is suffering because of the crackdown on illegal immigrants (read: dirt cheap labor with no rights). It mentioned how agricultural work is "highly skilled, back-breaking, and low wage" (my emphasis). Which of those things doesn't belong?
Right - the "low wage" part. Yet that's what required for our current agribiz model to work. Sounds a lot like the rationale for slavery, back in the 19th.
This country needs to re-think how we do agriculture, from subsidizing commodity crops and corn ethanol production, to minimum wage requirements and how workers are treated. Diverting some of the subsidies that make the most unhealthful foods cheap into production of fresh vege & fruit would be smart on so many levels.
Dems ought to bring it into the "deficit" / jobs / immigration arguments. Maybe we ought to tell them.
Teledin found! Ya gotta love it.
Lynn on June 25, 2011 1:11 PM:
As was stated by a previous blogger, most harvesting jobs in agriculture are paid per unit, be it quart, gallon, bushel, or whatever is appropriate for the item being harvested. When the crop gets to the processing plant, many are paid hourly wages though the packers may be paid per case. Usually those paid per unit make very good money if they have much experience. When they get their speed up, they can pull in the equivalent of much more than minimum wage.
Heywood on June 25, 2011 4:16 PM:
I can't feel sorry for anyone from Georgia. Sorry. I will guarantee you that many of these farmers who are now suffering, voted this idiot governor in to office. Now sit back ,starve and watch your crops rot while you spend all winter on government assistance. You know, that same government all of these people were railing against last year when they elected this dimwit. Just think about the logic, or lack thereof, of the people of Georgia. They elect a anti-immigrant governor in a state that relies on the very people the governor wants to remove from the state. I'll sit back and chuckle at this for a while.
pharoute on June 25, 2011 4:17 PM:
I'm going to guess this isn't a bug but a feature: drive out undocumented workers, small farms fail, corporate agribusinesses buy land for cheap, GA legislature tweaks law to allow workers back (next season of course, not now) and tada! all that lobbying pays off
Kevin on June 25, 2011 4:20 PM:
well this may actually be good for farmers. With less produce going to market, the prices go up, which means farmers will make more money. As we also are producing more food than can be consumed, we tend to throw the extra on the world market which drives down prices. These prices tend to hurt farmers elsewhere such as Mexico.
Dan on June 25, 2011 4:38 PM:
I grew up on a small farm in Northeast Georgia. Someone who has never been involved with farming would find it difficult to believe just how hard the work is, even when one is growing crops which allow the use of machinery to lighten the workload-per-person. Including time spent away from the farm at a normal day job at slightly above 1970s-era Minimum Wage all Iwe had to look forward to was 16 to 18 hour workdays, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, taking any & every sort of additional odd job one can find to supplement the meager return on the expense of running one's own family farm... Small farmers would be walking an even narrower tightrope between breaking even and losing their farms every year nowadays. Only the really big farms would have the ability to hire additional workers. And even that would be financially risky if those workers were paid a fair & decent wage like they would deserve for doing that kind of work. $20 an hour + piece-rate bonuses wouldn't tempt me to go back into farming. It's far easier to work 48 hours a week on the production lines of a factory than to break one's back out in the fields of a farm. Farm workers deserve a fair wage, health insurance, the same high safety standards that I enjoy at the factory. Anyone willing to work deserves a chance at not only a fair wage, but in the case of illegals they also deserve a chance of becoming American citizens.
I've lived in the North, I've lived in the South. I've lived in cities and out in the country. Some of my ancestors were here when the Europeans started founding colonies. Some of my ancestors came over from Europe as indentured servants. Some were European settlers. I'd be very surprised if there weren't a few slaves in the family tree, too. So don't think I'm some snooty rich kid, all grown up. I don't give two figs for politics. I've never in my life seen a nickle's worth of difference between democrat & republican politicians. Any politician who isn't a liar, a thief, or worse, is a rare & welcome exception.
Some folks suggested putting folks on welfare out in those empty fields. I say putting the politicians who precipitated this problem out there in the fields, too. It's about time *they* did some honest work. Put them out there in the hot sun, right next to their Betters; the illegals that ought to be allowed to be earning their citizenship with every day's labor they do.
Buzzman on June 25, 2011 4:43 PM:
Pay a better wage? Farmers don't get to collectively bargain like the UAW. They basically get told what price to accept or they can gamble and go to an auction house and hope every other farmer in the region didn't bring the same product. Farmers pay what they can afford. And they can't afford to pay a Teamster to pick one onion an hour and then take a coffee break. Until Americans are willing to spend more on food rather than cable TV the wages for farm labor will be low.
CRC on June 25, 2011 8:26 PM:
Well being from GA and currently living here.
We like what the Repubs did and will be happy to pay the costs that involved for making people follow our laws.
Oh and we dont give a #$%! what you think about it.
Have a great day!
JQP on June 25, 2011 8:52 PM:
Well, the obvious solution for the Republicans is to let all those farms get outsourced to India and China. After all, it's not like any of this is going to negatively impact the American economy, right?
AlmostRabid on June 25, 2011 10:17 PM:
The average Republican is too inbred to have common sense anyway.
Susan on June 26, 2011 12:04 AM:
To all those folks who think paying higher wages in Georgia is the answer: when you go to the grocery store, what are you going to buy: $2/pound tomatoes from SC or $8/pound tomatoes from Georgia?
Just another example of **NOT THINKING** going on here!
And to any Georgia person who thinks this law is a good idea: BE SURE TO BUY GEORGIA PRODUCE! You certainly deserve to pay more money for it!!
Buzz on June 26, 2011 4:00 AM:
So the farmers would rather let the crops rot than pay a fair wage. Typical democrats. Lets stab ourselves to death and then blame the republicans for not outlawing knives.
dav on June 26, 2011 11:17 AM:
Yep, we object to slave labor, drug cartels, kidnappers and murderers. We don't like subversives either. Stop your lame attempts to social engineer, you aren't that smart and we're not (all) that dumb. I do realize that my party has a lot of idiots, I might be one too, but we don't all hang-out ya know? We're people who pull the other lever for a lot of different reasons, just like our Dem neighbors. Get a real job picking fruit, it probably pays better than weak political punditry. Caveat:don't live in Ga and never heard of your Gov, but he can't be worse than RObert Bentley.
knightphoenix2 on June 26, 2011 12:17 PM:
I see that we got a few "late-comers" in here, justifying their racism and hatred. All I can say is, "You reap what you sow."
Or, in this case, NOT.
CommonSense on June 26, 2011 2:26 PM:
Here's an idea - help wanted ads! Maybe if ALL the states would pass similar laws, we could do something about our unemployment numbers. Someone say something about shovel-ready?
Ananata Androscogginn on June 26, 2011 2:45 PM:
Well it's nice to see people talking about taking Georgia back to its Colonial Roots as a former British Prison Colony, with the return of forced labor being bandied about. Wasn't that suggested by the Republicans of the House during Bush's second term for illegal aliens awaiting trial and deportation? (You furrin' countries do as we say, not as we do, y'hear?)
Agricultural workers (including the very few year-round ones) are not included in minimum wage laws (I've not heard if any state includes them), nor do they seem to be eligible for overtime pay for some incredibly long and strenuous work-days during certain seasons. I'm sure the AgriBusiness corporations would fight changes to that tooth and nail, even as highly mechanized as they are.
Yes, the tea-partiers did manage to get their darling Robber Baron wanna-be elected as governor here in Maine. Has anybody noticed how much less rowdy and publicly insulting to others he has been since his vacation in Jamaica, and the lecturing I'm sure he got out of the public view from his corporate handlers?
Bob on June 26, 2011 7:17 PM:
Unless these politicians in my state, Georgia, are brain-damaged they should've known this would happen. In fact they carefully crafted the law to avoid it being unconstitutional. If they wanted the law to be overturned they should've written it so that it would be obviously unconstitutional.
I understand the premise but it was too much too soon. The farmers have no way to adapt to this massive change in how they will harvest their crops. If they had some warning they could've automated some of the harvesting, which would've helped our economy.
Well, Georgia, it was fun while it lasted. With the rural areas not harvesting crops and urban areas having to import these foods at much higher prices, and all of the newly unemployed people we will have, it will finally bankrupt are state.
Try running a government without the taxes generated by agriculture now, Governor Deal! We tried to tell you but you and your party turned a deaf ear to us.
wryman on June 27, 2011 1:44 AM:
Oh well;
You all have missed out on the other traditional cheap labor source, Prison Inmates. Time to bring back The Chain Gangs.Make them work.Why else have we been filling up our prisons?
Dicey Riley on June 27, 2011 8:51 AM:
I have a novel idea. How bout putting all the baby mammas who get a check for doing nothing but breeding to work? Their kids could work too. And the baby daddys. No work, no check. If they can't work, they can watch the kids that are too little while their mommas and daddys work.
Jocelyn Horlacher Ross-Rayford on June 29, 2011 6:43 PM:
Somehow the Republicans will say Obama caused the problems Georgia is experiencing with its farms, and the businesses dependent upon them. I don't know how, but they will. I feel certain hundreds, thousands, even millions of Republicans will say, "Yes, it is Obama's fault!"
I think we have reached the age of True Believers, here in the USA. I think Obama needs to be like President Roosevelt of the 1940's and become bold, otherwise, people may accept the leadership of the radical Republicans---as they did in Georgia and Ohio and Wisconsin because they showed that degree of boldness.
I think the nation is looking for a 1940's style boldness to lead us out of what may become disaster ahead. Especially as we have veterans coming home!
Javik on June 30, 2011 12:13 AM:
I really don't see what the problem is. Time to develop robotic vision systems that can locate and pick fruit off of vines. On the basis of color alone, identifying red/blue fruits against green vines shouldn't be too hard of a starting point.
These robots can then work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during the harvest season, and they won't demand health insurance or a pension.
Unlike a common laborer, when the harvest season ends you can turn off the power and park them in the shed, which just doesn't work with human laborers.
Problem solved!