Leopards Ate My Face

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‘We’ll all have to go vegan’: Wisconsin dairy farmers fret over immigration crackdown (www.ft.com)

submitted 21 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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https://archive.is/GJxc5

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election_in_Wisconsin

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

Hans Breitenmoser, a farmer, says the ‘dairy industry will die a horrible death’ if undocumented workers are deported.

When Brexit came into force and "migrant" (i.e. low paid Eastern European) fruit pickers were kept out of the UK, farmers here struggled https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/farmers-brexit-kent-government-brits-b940026.html

If apparently we can't afford to produce food without exploiting low paid immigrants then either the people running the farms are money grubbing dickheads or there's something very wrong with how society functions.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 15 hours ago

Here in US i think it's more complicated than that. The farming is very large scale, most of the work is done by machinery. Some of the crops though need to be picked by hand. There is a migratory (within the US) workforce that moves to where the seasonal work is. Farm hands that sleep in a loft in the barn and see the crop through from seed to harvest isn't a thing. I learned this because I had friends who did this. Live in a tent, get paid for what you produce, move on to the next crop. No federal taxes, low cost of living. Apples in Washington, oranges in Florida, blueberries in Maine, clean fish in Alaska.I even met people who worked on crab boats and couldn't understand why it was so dangerous until I saw the TV show Dangerous Catch. Americans would rather work at Walmart. Immigrants will happily do it then head back home where the money they earned will go farther. NAFTA stole a lot of the agricultural work from Mexico, they're doing the same work just further from home. I don't know for sure but they may not be getting paid any less than an American that does the same job.

Caveat: I garnered this information a long time ago and may be outdated. IMO US immigration laws need to be updated and enforced. Political polarization is making this impossible. Being honest about the situation is the first step.

Other caveat: not an expert at anything