Some Ala. Farmers Plant Fewer Crops, Say Immigration Crackdown Drove Away Workers To Pick Them

[oldhippydude]

5. about americans taking those jobs..

many folks don't realize the level of skill and training it takes to make any kind of living doing agricultural labor.. i grew up in an agricultural area in 60's... us locals were simply not able to compete with transient laborers.. they not only had a well developed skill set for it but developed a musculature that enabled them to do the work quickly and effeiciently..

i would spend hours hoeing a row of sugar beets, that the mexicans could hoe almost as quickly as one could walk through..

later on when working in the old Office of Economic Opportunity. i found out that there was in fact a specialization in the labor... a local fruit producer needed picking labor.. alas the only labor available was stoop labor, you develop and use totally different musculature for what your doing co-ordination also is important when doing agricultural labor.. if you watch a crew that has worked together for a while it resembles a well choreographed ballet as much as it does a work environment..