# More Data on The Phony Farm Labor Crisis **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 31, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-data-on-the-phony-farm-labor-crisis/633219 "2012-08-31T03:06:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chen019](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f19dbf/32.png) [@Chen019](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chen019)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-data-on-the-phony-farm-labor-crisis/633219/1 "2012-08-31T03:06:42Z")
John Carney [questions the narrative that there is a farm labor shortage](http://www.cnbc.com/id/48847903): > [@](#): > > In recent years, we’ve seen just how resilient this narrative really is. You’d think the idea of a labor shortage in the midst of on ongoing job drought would be laughed out of town. > > But somehow the story keeps getting told and taken seriously. According to the Farm Labor Shortage Mythologists, American citizens are just too lazy and would rather go jobless than work on a farm… > > Earlier this summer, as these stories started up once again, I tried to introduce some sanity into the discussion by pointing out that the dire farm labor shortage forecasts of 2011 had absolutely flunked the test of reality. As it turned out, 2011 was one of the best years on record for American farms. > > One of the criticisms of my reading of the farm data was that the data about national farm income might have been concealing more local crises. Perhaps the national numbers had come in well despite the alleged “farm crisis,” because fields of soy and corn in the Midwest had done well, while the apples of Washington, peanuts of Georgia, and California fruits and vegetables went unpicked. > > Not quite. State-by-state data released by the Department of Agriculture Wednesday has pretty much destroyed that critique. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-data-on-the-phony-farm-labor-crisis/633219/2 "2012-08-31T03:57:56Z")
Mundane and pointless indeed. If you really want to discuss this, why don’t you dig up some real data instead of just quoting this yahoo. Hell, if you really like this essay, why don’t you do this guys work for him and prove his completely unsubstantiated thesis with real data instead of a bunch of anecdotes. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-data-on-the-phony-farm-labor-crisis/633219/3 "2012-08-31T16:37:32Z")
One of the biggest arguments in favor of legalizing illegal immigrants is that we _need_ these people to do jobs that Americans don’t want to do. In fact, data like this demonstrates that no such jobs exist. If you’re willing to pay a decent wage, workers will show up. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-data-on-the-phony-farm-labor-crisis/633219/4 "2012-08-31T20:10:30Z")
This is a myth that is prevalent throughout the Western world. We get the same thing in the U.K. Apologists for illegal immigrants always come out with the old chestnut, that they’re doing jobs that we don’t want to do. Total B/s of course, seeing once highly paid tradesmen now doing unskilled jobs for minimum wage, and grateful for it makes a nonsense of this silly saying. As Diceman said… ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-data-on-the-phony-farm-labor-crisis/633219/5 "2012-08-31T20:26:01Z")
It’s the farmers who are lying, right? They say they’re going to be devastated (they say that a lot) this season and then reap record profits. Shouldn’t we be bitching about farmers?