HANOVER (Pennsylvania) EVENING SUN January 12, 2007
Panel: Immigration laws could affect Pa. farmers
By BRENDAN deROODE WEST While all migrant workers are not in the United States illegally, some are. And that concerns the government, which has been working to reform immigration laws to reduce the number of illegals in the country. But what concerns farmers like Keith Eckel is the fact migrant workers are a valuable commodity because, simply put, they do the jobs the resident work force often is unwilling to do. How changes in immigration laws will affect farmers was the topic of discussion Thursday at a forum hosted by the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and held at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg. "It's a folly to think we can eliminate 13 million people in the country's work force," said Eckel, a Lackawanna County farmer who took part in the discussion. Losing that many people would crash the economy, said panelist Sam Kieffer, who works for the farm bureau as its National Governmental Relations director. And Pennsylvania could be hit particularly hard, he said. "One in seven Pennsylvania jobs is tied directly to agriculture," Kieffer said. If illegal immigrants are simply deported, the country could lose anywhere from $5 billion to $9 billion just on fruits and vegetables, Kieffer said. Pennsylvania alone would lose 20 percent of its revenue, he said. Forum mediator Gary Swan interjected with a question. In an era filled with new technology, could robots do the work? Essentially, no, said Eckel and Ed Herrmann, panelist and migrant-labor-issues specialist. Mechanization works fine with small grains like soybeans, and corn. But with things like fruits and vegetables, humans are better, Herrmann said. "You have to have eyes and hands to do this job," he said. "(With) a lot of the foods, we need to have that human interaction." And fruits and vegetables are delicate, Eckel said. "It's so easy to injure a fresh product that has to stay in (a healthy) state until a consumer picks it up and takes it home," Eckel said. Beside being able to see what's wrong with a piece of produce, people are more cost-effective for most small farms, Herrmann said. In the end, the immigration issue should be dealt with by the federal government, Kieffer said. If states dealt with the issue individually, and some addressed it before others, illegal immigrants could then just move to states that haven't taken action. Eckel said any meaningful immigration reform would include a guest-worker program that would allow farmers to retain the services of migrants. Kieffer, quoting from a 2006 survey of undocumented immigrants, said 98 percent of illegal workers would make an effort to become legal immigrants, and 70 percent would be willing to pay back taxes. But Kieffer warned that no matter what course of action the government takes in dealing with illegal immigrants, the country must ensure jobs remain filled. If there are not workers to pick the fruit, it rots and dies, Eckel pointed out.
|