In 2023, state was nation’s sole producer of almonds, artichokes, figs, olives, pomegranates, raisins and walnuts
  • qyron@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    0·
    7 days ago

    Let it happen.

    When the shortage of labour truly impacts the most basic sector, where first worlders don’t want to work, things will hurt.

    Considering it’s the US we’re talking about, resorting to enprisoned population will be the first grab but I doubt the good honest citizen will want fellons doing service at their doorstep.

  • zephorah@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    7 days ago

    This is real.

    It affects more than that. A friend of mine works for a small business, with immigrants. One does have a criminal conviction in his past, 50s, left gang life 2 decades ago to clean up his act and be there for his children. Likely gone after the orange potato is sworn in.

    After analyzing the 20% increase to component costs due to tariffs and possibly having her work visa staff expelled, she told my friend to get a side job, because she wasn’t sure what was going to happen. That was last week.

    This week I get a furious wall of text about imminent job loss because ALL orders from this small Business were put on hold “to wait and see”. There is a paycheck to paycheck factor with small businesses pushing to get ahead. They also lost production, materials, and savings when meth heads broke into the business, stole, and started a fire. Insurance, yes, but it still cut in. So cushion is gone.

    So this week, it’s I can’t pay anyone if I have no orders for the next 2 months, so find a new job, I’m filing bankruptcy at the end of the month.

    Immigration IS one piece of this puzzle. And now, people are losing their jobs, one small business is going bankrupt, and the orange potato isn’t even sworn in yet. All the ripple effect of anticipation.

    Also, this business owner is Conservative. Not MAGA, there’s a difference. Fiscal conservative type, voted Kamala because it was in favor of her business. Tariffs and immigration were all the talk, I’m told, pre election.

    Food production business btw. No farm fields, indoor production.

    Normally I like collecting stories, but in less than a week it’s been pretty depressing fare.

    • enbyecho@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      6 days ago

      No. You should read the article.

      Farms are so desperate for workers they are - in general - paying decently well - often $20 /hr or more for people who know what they are doing. Is that enough? I’d argue no. Are there abuses? Yes, but that’s why we need to further extend protections to undocumented and H-2A visa workers and expand the H-2A visa program. Such protections have been pushed hard in California and it’s definitely had a positive effect. Republicans have fought to limit H-2A visas and even end the program precisely because they WANT slave labor.

      But in general there is a misconception that illegal immigrants are suppressing wages and so therefore the answer is to get punish and deport illegal workers. Project 2025 explicitly calls for ending the H-2A visa program. If it were a case of citizens clamoring to go pick strawberries or work in Ag at all, then this notion might have some validity. But, sadly, this is not the case at all and you need only go talk to any decent sized farm.

      The answer is to acknowledge that not everyone has the resources and time to enter this country legally and go through a complicated and opaque-ish visa process that we unnecessarily make harder - illegal immigration is going to keep happening so rather than focus on punishment of illegal immigrants let’s work on protecting them.

      tl;dr: Food prices are going to go up if this mass deportation goes through. But it’s not because wages were suppressed but because there will be a huge labor shortage.

  • caveman8000@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    7 days ago

    We’ll just tariff the agriculture industry to bring us food and make mexico pay for it

    That’s how it works right…?