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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Excellent article. My suspicion is that the immigration issue (and covert racism viz the 'take America back' signs) is what drove farmers to vote Trump. But as the article points out, they, the farmers, depend on undocumented immigrants and they hire undocumented immigrants. And their farms would go broke without undocumented immigrants. Those farmers tgat voted for Trump are seriously stupid and deserve to lose their business.

Excerpt:
"Labor costs currently comprise about 15 percent of a farmer’s costs, and that number is on the rise, according to the USDA. Almost half of the labor force on farms is undocumented. If many of those workers are deported, without a ready and willing supply of hands, the price of food will likely continue to surge." [/quote]

I think this really depends. I'd like to see a breakdown of immigrant labor related to ag. There are huge swaths of the country (think wheat, corn, soybeans) where minimal hired labor is used and in fact POC are barely visible. Case in point: I went to my niece's h.s. graduation in the upper midwest (town of 300, consolidated rural h.s.) and for the first time ever saw black people in that town, because a single graduate is biracial. At one time row crops--specifically sugar beets--used migrant labor from Texas but that was all mechanized by the 1980s. But these people all vote Trump heavily. The Congressional district was blue dog dem for decades and went GOP around 5-6 years ago. They aren't encountering trans kids in school, let alone school sports.

I would take issue with the claim they got paid in connection with the first term tariffs for "doing nothing." Hardly. They put in crops, they harvested crops, and China quit buying soybeans. Huge surge in farm bankruptcies. That's like saying UI benefits are paid for doing nothing. The closest thing we have for that is conservation reserve, which was part of the soil bank program that started in the 1950s--a part intended to protect erodible soils but also does support farm prices by reducing acreage. I have about 40 acres in CRP. I get paid total about $2000/yr. To get that it had to be planted in native grass seed and it has to be mowed to deter growth of brush and noxious weeds. Mowing has to be done at specific times so as not to disturb nesting birds. I got partial reimbursement for the planting (which included cultivation for seedbed prep and hiring someone using a specialized seed drill) and get nothing for the mowing.

If the maintenance wasn't done, within 10 years the land would be overtaken by aspen, willow, and other brush. The CRP program maintains it as native grass meadow. [/quote]

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