> > You can start by not sweating the small stuff. The borders of the
> > US are essentially open at this point anyway....
>
> Not really.
Border Security, Job Market Leave Farms Short of Workers Growers Frustrated by Delay in Agriculture Legislation
By Sonya Geis Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, October 4, 2006; Page A06
CLOVIS, Calif. -- Bins of Granny Smith apples towered over two conveyor belts at P-R Farms' packing plant. But only one belt moved. P-R Farms, like farms up and down California and across the nation, does not have enough workers to process its fruit.
"We're short by 50 to 75 people," said Pat Ricchiuti, 59, the third-generation owner of P-R Farms. "For the last three weeks, we're running at 50 percent capacity. We saw this coming a couple years ago, but last year and this year has really been terrible."
Farmers of all types of specialty crops, from almonds to roses, have seen the immigrant labor supply they depend on dry up over the past year. Increased border security and competition from other industries are driving migrant laborers out of the fields, farmers say.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/03/AR2006100301254.html