How this garlic farm went from a labor shortage to over 150 people on its applicant waitlist

[Syriusly]

What is going to be below garlic farmers? I don't see how the same people can call for doom with a $15 min wage, but then applaud it when the market reaches $15. Doesn't make a lot of sense.

The difference is between encouraging an economy where market forces lead to rising wages and better standards of living for Americans,


rather than using government force to make employers pay more when the economy does NOT call for it, and won't support it.

I understand the difference. Either way I don't see doom. But the right has claimed $15 would doom jobs.

What we claimed is that it would reduce labor, and we are correct. McDonald's and Wendy's are both investing in automation now. When you buy machines to replace humans, it does cost jobs.

Actually every industry- regardless of minimum wage- is trying to replace humans with machines.
At most- at the very most- increased minimum wage may have accelerated McDonald and Wendy's trend towards automation.

Automation will be happening with- or without minimum wage increases.

That may be true, but why kill jobs even faster?

Nobody will invest in automation unless the initial cost for those machines will produce lower overhead in the coming years..

Every business is moving that direction. How often do you do business with a bank teller? Think ATM's were caused by minimum wage?

Its not 'minimum wage'- it is wages. The cost of automation is plummeting. Your solution is to pay shovelers less because you think that they will be competitive with steam shovels.

But this article is not really about minimum wage- its about the current agricultural labor shortage- farmers are already automating as fast as they can- but so far automation can't do something on farms.

This one large farmer was able to afford boosting wages and get more workers- not surprise there. The implication in the OP though was that this would resolve the labor shortage- but it doesn't. It isn't creating new agricultural workers- it is just taking them from one business to another.

Still not enough labor for demand.

 

[Brain357]

You have numbers that labor has been reduced?

No because it's a relatively new thing that's taking place. But I would guess at least into the hundreds of thousands of jobs when all is said and done.

What I did find is that there are over 14 thousand McDonald's restaurant in the US and over 5 thousand Wendy's. That means there are 20,000 restaurants that are going to turn automated. Even if automation got rid of only five employees per outlet, that's 100,000 jobs right there.

So you are just guessing. I don't see it working.

And I'm being very conservative with my guess. I don't know about you, but when I go to McDonald's, there are three to four girls behind the counter taking orders, and remember that those restaurants are not just open eight hours a day, so they have different shifts just like other businesses.

It is just guessing which has little value.

It has a lot of value. Why would franchise owners and the company itself spend hundreds of thousands of dollars if they were going to keep the same amount of employees anyway? Or are you saying it's not realistic that automation can reduce the jobs at a restaurant by five people. I think it will be many more than five, but that's just my guess.

Why has Walmart employment continued to grow with self checkout?

 

[Doc1]

You have numbers that labor has been reduced?

No because it's a relatively new thing that's taking place. But I would guess at least into the hundreds of thousands of jobs when all is said and done.

What I did find is that there are over 14 thousand McDonald's restaurant in the US and over 5 thousand Wendy's. That means there are 20,000 restaurants that are going to turn automated. Even if automation got rid of only five employees per outlet, that's 100,000 jobs right there.

So you are just guessing. I don't see it working.

And I'm being very conservative with my guess. I don't know about you, but when I go to McDonald's, there are three to four girls behind the counter taking orders, and remember that those restaurants are not just open eight hours a day, so they have different shifts just like other businesses.

It is just guessing which has little value.

It has a lot of value. Why would franchise owners and the company itself spend hundreds of thousands of dollars if they were going to keep the same amount of employees anyway? Or are you saying it's not realistic that automation can reduce the jobs at a restaurant by five people. I think it will be many more than five, but that's just my guess.

It's not just about the wages, that's just part of it. It's the Worker's Comp, the UE, everything and all of it is based on the wage. So if you raise wages you raise everything else too.

 

[Clintonista]

I will never get why the left always says there is jobs Americans refuse to do....they are retarded if you pay a high enough wage......




How this garlic farm went from a labor shortage to over 150 people on its applicant waitlist


Christopher Ranch, which grows garlic on 5,000 acres in Gilroy, Calif., announced recently that it would hike pay for farmworkers from $11 an hour to $13 hour this year, or 18%, and then to $15 in 2018. That’s four years earlier than what’s required by California’s schedule for minimum wage increases.

Ken Christopher, vice president at Christopher Ranch, said the effect of the move was immediately obvious. At the end of last year, the farm was short 50 workers needed to help peel, package and roast garlic. Within two weeks of upping wages in January, applications flooded in. Now the company has a wait-list 150 people long.


.

I would bet the workers who applied to work on the garlic farm quit working other farm jobs and have caused a labor shortage at the other farms. I very much doubt it has caused an increase in the number of Americans willing to work on farms.

 

[JBond]

I will never get why the left always says there is jobs Americans refuse to do....they are retarded if you pay a high enough wage......




How this garlic farm went from a labor shortage to over 150 people on its applicant waitlist


Christopher Ranch, which grows garlic on 5,000 acres in Gilroy, Calif., announced recently that it would hike pay for farmworkers from $11 an hour to $13 hour this year, or 18%, and then to $15 in 2018. That’s four years earlier than what’s required by California’s schedule for minimum wage increases.

Ken Christopher, vice president at Christopher Ranch, said the effect of the move was immediately obvious. At the end of last year, the farm was short 50 workers needed to help peel, package and roast garlic. Within two weeks of upping wages in January, applications flooded in. Now the company has a wait-list 150 people long.


.

$15? Nobody can afford to pay that!

Some businesses models can, others can't. That is why the government needs to stay out of wages. Supply and demand works if you don't import a bunch of non citizens that will work for dirt.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

The difference is between encouraging an economy where market forces lead to rising wages and better standards of living for Americans,


rather than using government force to make employers pay more when the economy does NOT call for it, and won't support it.

I understand the difference. Either way I don't see doom. But the right has claimed $15 would doom jobs.

What we claimed is that it would reduce labor, and we are correct. McDonald's and Wendy's are both investing in automation now. When you buy machines to replace humans, it does cost jobs.

Actually every industry- regardless of minimum wage- is trying to replace humans with machines.
At most- at the very most- increased minimum wage may have accelerated McDonald and Wendy's trend towards automation.

Automation will be happening with- or without minimum wage increases.

That may be true, but why kill jobs even faster?

Nobody will invest in automation unless the initial cost for those machines will produce lower overhead in the coming years..

Every business is moving that direction. How often do you do business with a bank teller? Think ATM's were caused by minimum wage?

Its not 'minimum wage'- it is wages. The cost of automation is plummeting. Your solution is to pay shovelers less because you think that they will be competitive with steam shovels.

But this article is not really about minimum wage- its about the current agricultural labor shortage- farmers are already automating as fast as they can- but so far automation can't do something on farms.

This one large farmer was able to afford boosting wages and get more workers- not surprise there. The implication in the OP though was that this would resolve the labor shortage- but it doesn't. It isn't creating new agricultural workers- it is just taking them from one business to another.

Still not enough labor for demand.

The point in all this is that there are reactions to actions. For instance if we got rid of every illegal and didn't grant work visas in this country, not all the farms are going to go under. They will increase wages to attract American workers and we consumers will most likely pay the price for that.

 

[Doc1]

Another dirty little secret, Union Wages are also based off of minimum wage.

 

[Clintonista]

Here is the reason Americans don't do the farm jobs: They have to move around a lot.

How real is the
 farm labor shortage?

When Jesus Lamas Sr. arrived early one morning to start his workers on some late June apple thinning, only half of his 30-person crew was there to greet him.

The rest didn’t show, probably because they switched to a neighboring orchard to harvest cherries and make more money.

“If employers are just stealing workers from each other, then that’s a pretty good definition of a labor shortage,” said Mike Gempler, executive director of the Washington Growers League, a Yakima firm that represents growers on labor issues.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

No because it's a relatively new thing that's taking place. But I would guess at least into the hundreds of thousands of jobs when all is said and done.

What I did find is that there are over 14 thousand McDonald's restaurant in the US and over 5 thousand Wendy's. That means there are 20,000 restaurants that are going to turn automated. Even if automation got rid of only five employees per outlet, that's 100,000 jobs right there.

So you are just guessing. I don't see it working.

And I'm being very conservative with my guess. I don't know about you, but when I go to McDonald's, there are three to four girls behind the counter taking orders, and remember that those restaurants are not just open eight hours a day, so they have different shifts just like other businesses.

It is just guessing which has little value.

It has a lot of value. Why would franchise owners and the company itself spend hundreds of thousands of dollars if they were going to keep the same amount of employees anyway? Or are you saying it's not realistic that automation can reduce the jobs at a restaurant by five people. I think it will be many more than five, but that's just my guess.

It's not just about the wages, that's just part of it. It's the Worker's Comp, the UE, everything and all of it is based on the wage. So if you raise wages you raise everything else too.

Certainly, and if you make more money, you pay more into Social Security and Medicare that your employer by law has to match.

 

[Brain357]

I will never get why the left always says there is jobs Americans refuse to do....they are retarded if you pay a high enough wage......




How this garlic farm went from a labor shortage to over 150 people on its applicant waitlist


Christopher Ranch, which grows garlic on 5,000 acres in Gilroy, Calif., announced recently that it would hike pay for farmworkers from $11 an hour to $13 hour this year, or 18%, and then to $15 in 2018. That’s four years earlier than what’s required by California’s schedule for minimum wage increases.

Ken Christopher, vice president at Christopher Ranch, said the effect of the move was immediately obvious. At the end of last year, the farm was short 50 workers needed to help peel, package and roast garlic. Within two weeks of upping wages in January, applications flooded in. Now the company has a wait-list 150 people long.


.

$15? Nobody can afford to pay that!

Some businesses models can, others can't. That is why the government needs to stay out wages. Supply and demand works if you don't import a bunch of non citizens that will work for dirt.

A global economy makes it far more complicated than that.

 

[Doc1]

Here is the reason Americans don't do the farm jobs: They have to move around a lot.

How real is the
 farm labor shortage?

When Jesus Lamas Sr. arrived early one morning to start his workers on some late June apple thinning, only half of his 30-person crew was there to greet him.

The rest didn’t show, probably because they switched to a neighboring orchard to harvest cherries and make more money.

“If employers are just stealing workers from each other, then that’s a pretty good definition of a labor shortage,” said Mike Gempler, executive director of the Washington Growers League, a Yakima firm that represents growers on labor issues.

I live in Bakersfield, the workers move with the Crop. Each crop has it's own time table.

 

[Clintonista]

Here is the reason Americans don't do the farm jobs: They have to move around a lot.

How real is the
 farm labor shortage?

When Jesus Lamas Sr. arrived early one morning to start his workers on some late June apple thinning, only half of his 30-person crew was there to greet him.

The rest didn’t show, probably because they switched to a neighboring orchard to harvest cherries and make more money.

“If employers are just stealing workers from each other, then that’s a pretty good definition of a labor shortage,” said Mike Gempler, executive director of the Washington Growers League, a Yakima firm that represents growers on labor issues.

I live in Bakersfield, the workers move with the Crop. Each crop has it's own time table.

Which is why Americans won't do those jobs.

 

[Syriusly]

I understand the difference. Either way I don't see doom. But the right has claimed $15 would doom jobs.

What we claimed is that it would reduce labor, and we are correct. McDonald's and Wendy's are both investing in automation now. When you buy machines to replace humans, it does cost jobs.

Actually every industry- regardless of minimum wage- is trying to replace humans with machines.
At most- at the very most- increased minimum wage may have accelerated McDonald and Wendy's trend towards automation.

Automation will be happening with- or without minimum wage increases.

That may be true, but why kill jobs even faster?

Nobody will invest in automation unless the initial cost for those machines will produce lower overhead in the coming years..

Every business is moving that direction. How often do you do business with a bank teller? Think ATM's were caused by minimum wage?

Its not 'minimum wage'- it is wages. The cost of automation is plummeting. Your solution is to pay shovelers less because you think that they will be competitive with steam shovels.

But this article is not really about minimum wage- its about the current agricultural labor shortage- farmers are already automating as fast as they can- but so far automation can't do something on farms.

This one large farmer was able to afford boosting wages and get more workers- not surprise there. The implication in the OP though was that this would resolve the labor shortage- but it doesn't. It isn't creating new agricultural workers- it is just taking them from one business to another.

Still not enough labor for demand.

The point in all this is that there are reactions to actions. For instance if we got rid of every illegal and didn't grant work visas in this country, not all the farms are going to go under. They will increase wages to attract American workers and we consumers will most likely pay the price for that.

The point is that if we got rid of every illegal tons of farms would go under. Absolutely.

Farms in the Mid-west generally will do okay- the grains and potatoes and such lend themselves to large scale mechanization- which is why 1 farmer can do what it took 100 farmers years ago to do.

But orchards, and wineries, and vegetable farms and all of the others that require lots of labor- they are already struggling to keep from going under. I know one rancher who is thinking of getting out because he can't reliably get seasonal labor anymore.

So lets say that farms do increase wages- and increase wages- do you think that means Americans are willing to pay enough for produce to support such wages?

Nope- we will just import more from Mexico. And China(Chinese garlic is already hyper competitive with American garlic). And Latin America.

 

[Clintonista]

“Americans, for the most part, are not interested in doing this type of work,” he says. “They prefer to make less money and work in a fast food restaurant or a supermarket where the conditions are more comfortable.”

 

[Doc1]

Here is the reason Americans don't do the farm jobs: They have to move around a lot.

How real is the
 farm labor shortage?

When Jesus Lamas Sr. arrived early one morning to start his workers on some late June apple thinning, only half of his 30-person crew was there to greet him.

The rest didn’t show, probably because they switched to a neighboring orchard to harvest cherries and make more money.

“If employers are just stealing workers from each other, then that’s a pretty good definition of a labor shortage,” said Mike Gempler, executive director of the Washington Growers League, a Yakima firm that represents growers on labor issues.

I live in Bakersfield, the workers move with the Crop. Each crop has it's own time table.

Which is why Americans won't do those jobs.

Exactly

 

[Syriusly]

Here is the reason Americans don't do the farm jobs: They have to move around a lot.

How real is the
 farm labor shortage?

When Jesus Lamas Sr. arrived early one morning to start his workers on some late June apple thinning, only half of his 30-person crew was there to greet him.

The rest didn’t show, probably because they switched to a neighboring orchard to harvest cherries and make more money.

“If employers are just stealing workers from each other, then that’s a pretty good definition of a labor shortage,” said Mike Gempler, executive director of the Washington Growers League, a Yakima firm that represents growers on labor issues.

I live in Bakersfield, the workers move with the Crop. Each crop has it's own time table.

California Farmers Backed Trump, but Now Fear Losing Field Workers

“If you only have legal labor, certain parts of this industry and this region will not exist,” said Harold McClarty, a fourth-generation farmer in Kingsburg whose operation grows, packs and ships peaches, plums and grapes throughout the country. “If we sent all these people back, it would be a total disaster.”

 

[Doc1]

As an aside the smell of a Garlic Farm is heaven.

 

[TemplarKormac]

O wow man, dramatically raising wages brings in more workers. Who knew that would happen.

American workers, Pogo. You missed the point of the thread entirely. And this garlic farmer could afford to pay that kind of wage in the first place. Imagine other businesses who can't afford such a wage hike?

What are you going to do, force them to pay $15/hr? It that how the whole "living wage" argument works?

 

[JBond]

I will never get why the left always says there is jobs Americans refuse to do....they are retarded if you pay a high enough wage......




How this garlic farm went from a labor shortage to over 150 people on its applicant waitlist


Christopher Ranch, which grows garlic on 5,000 acres in Gilroy, Calif., announced recently that it would hike pay for farmworkers from $11 an hour to $13 hour this year, or 18%, and then to $15 in 2018. That’s four years earlier than what’s required by California’s schedule for minimum wage increases.

Ken Christopher, vice president at Christopher Ranch, said the effect of the move was immediately obvious. At the end of last year, the farm was short 50 workers needed to help peel, package and roast garlic. Within two weeks of upping wages in January, applications flooded in. Now the company has a wait-list 150 people long.


.

$15? Nobody can afford to pay that!

Some businesses models can, others can't. That is why the government needs to stay out wages. Supply and demand works if you don't import a bunch of non citizens that will work for dirt.

A global economy makes it far more complicated than that.

I agree that a global economy is a complicated thing. I also know bringing in no-skill workers will to work the minimum lowers wages.

 

[Clintonista]

O wow man, dramatically raising wages brings in more workers. Who knew that would happen.

American workers, Pogo. You missed the point of the thread entirely. And this garlic farmer could afford to pay that kind of wage in the first place. Imagine other businesses who can't afford such a wage hike?

What are you going to do, force them to pay $15/hr?

Looks like no one read the entire article. It is just as I said:

“The one constant is that no matter how much we pay, domestic workers are not applying for these jobs,” Resnick said. “Raising wages only serves to cannibalize from the existing workforce; it does nothing to add new laborers to the pool.”

The opening post goes down in flames.