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> In 2011, for example, Georgia enacted a strict immigration law that targeted undocumented workers and their employers. Later that year, the state reportedly l
by brianpgordon 8y ago
> In 2011, for example, Georgia enacted a strict immigration law that targeted undocumented workers and their employers. Later that year, the state reportedly lost eleven thousand crop workers. To fill the gap, officials established a program whereby nonviolent offenders nearing the end of their prison terms could do paid farmwork. The program had few takers, and many prisoners and probationers who did try it walked off the job, because the work was so hard. Georgia farmers lost more than a hundred and twenty million dollars.
> “It’s very expensive,” Wishnatzki said of the process of getting visas for temporary agricultural workers—they are issued under a program called H-2A —because of all the red tape and the cost of housing. (“Expensive” is a relative term: H-2A workers are still among the lowest paid in the country.) “But at least it guarantees that we have workers, so we’re able to plant a crop,” he continued.
Farmers now have to actually house and pay their workers instead of giving them scraps under the table for back-breaking manual labor under the brutally hot Georgia summer sun? It's difficult to sympathize, to put it lightly.
- econ102fail 8y agoThat says something that people will rather go back to prison than work the job.
- joe_the_user 8y agoWell, the felons never stop being prisoners in the time they work. This tends to result in an unmotivated workforce no matter what the activity. No only this project but most prison labor projects fail.
- pnutjam 8y agoI'm unable to locate a resource indicating the pay, only a blurb that says prisoners must pay for their transportation (I'm sure that isn't marked up or anything...) and the pay rate must be at least minimum wage. I'm guessing pay rate is a big part of the prisoners lack of enthusiasm.
- joe_the_user 8y agoWell, prisoners are unskilled and keeping them supervised while working is a significant expense, so the net value they yield is going to be very low. Clearly, being a farm worker isn't a career path for the prisoner so the prisoner has no motivation to learn the intricacies of the job. And farm work turns out to have many intricacies. So yeah, this project seems impossible.
- thinkloop 8y ago> Georgia farmers lost more than a hundred and twenty million dollars > H-2A workers are still among the lowest paid in the country Why don't they pay labour $100M?
- Simple_Guy 8y agoBecause to do backbreaking work, labour demands $200 million. the current low price of produce is subsidised by cheap illegal immigrant labour. Just like how the spartans spent their time being warriors while their slaves toiled the field.
- swelz 8y agoI think a larger issue is that food/resource prices may be too low. Obviously, the farmers need to charge for the food/resource, but if they aren't able to turn a profit when properly hiring and paying staff/contractors to work for them, that's an issue. We don't know if the $100MM would cover the new cost or not. I believe there is an issue where we've (the US) relied on such low-cost labor for farms far too long and we do not know how to balance out our supply chain with properly paid labor.
- ngold 8y agoThese are the tough questions that are going to have to be answered until another robotic cotton gin is invented.
- linuxftw 8y agoYes, the food market is heavily distorted. If giant ag businesses that employ immigrants can't make a profit, it means there's too many farms in operation. Farms will close, food prices will rise, and the market will stabilize. A huge positive to this, smaller family-run farms that don't hire immigrant labor would actually be able to compete with the larger industrial farms. We might even be able to reduce total miles food travels farm to table because it's simply not profitable to ship produce cross-country when local farmers can produce at a competitive price.
- 8y ago