Friday, September 30, 2011

Alabama farmers losing immigrant labor, see produce rotting in the fields

This is a sad and maddening story; new immigrant laws are making farmers unable to harvest. So many hungry people and the food is rotting! - - Donna Poisl

By Challen Stephens, The Huntsville Times

Regardless of how a federal judge rules this week, Alabama's new immigration law has already delivered "unintended consequences" across the state, said Agriculture Commissioner John McMillan.

The picking of blueberries, tomatoes and squash largely requires hand labor, McMillan said Monday, and the work is no longer getting done.

McMillan said he recently visited a farmer who has 75 acres of squash in north Jackson County.

"It was just rotting in the fields because he had half the labor," McMillan told The Huntsville Times editorial board. "That's a fact. What I'm telling you is what I've seen."
Click on the headline above to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.

No comments: