Seeking understanding in South Texas

Pamela Riemenschneider of The Packer passes along this link to a report from south Texas about immigration and a south Texas onion grower. Reading the follow-on comments to this piece illustrate the unbridled passion and the heartfelt if sometimes uneducated viewpoints some hold on this issue.

The straightforward video segment was greeted with posters who doubted that Americans wouldn't do the work( I'm from West Virginia and we need jobs) and those who criticized the grower for planting onions and not working in the fields.

Here is one example:

John writes:

Okay, okay ... poor farmer! Don't say that with your mouth full. The reporter should have asked two very pointed questions.
1. Why wasn't the "farmer" in the pressed and starched white shirt not picking onions?
2. How much "farm subsidy" from the federal government did he receive last year?


TK: The hostility toward U.S. growers who need agricultural labor is remarkable. Consumers should try to understand that the bountiful harvest of U.S. growers is really a bountiful harvest for them.

Immigration crossfire

I was listening to AM talk radio last night and a conservative radio talk show host was complaining that President Bush had criticized conservatives who call the immigration legislation amnesty. Coverage of the president's speech in Georgia, from The Baltimore Sun:

"I know there are some people out there hollering and saying, 'Kick them out.' That is simply unrealistic. It won't work," Bush said. "If you want to scare the American people, what you say is, the bill is an amnesty bill. It's not an amnesty bill. That's empty political rhetoric, trying to frighten our fellow citizens."


Here is the link to the Senate's immigration bill.

Here is a nice Q and A by the AP on the comprehensive immigration package. Here are three questions about the temporary worker programs in the bill.

Q: Does the Senate plan have a new temporary worker program? A: Yes. Foreigners who want to work in the U.S. would be able to apply for temporary worker visas. About 200,000 two-year "Y" visas would be available annually. The number of visas would rise or fall based on job availability. The visa could be renewed up to two more times, but the worker would have to home for a year between renewals.

Q: Can temporary workers in the new program earn legal permanent residency? A: No. After a maximum of six years of work, with one-year breaks every two years, temporary workers would have to return home permanently. They could apply to become legal residents while in their home country. But they would have to be considered for a visa under a new system that awarded points based on education, job skills, market needs, English proficiency and family ties.


Q: What about agriculture workers? A: The bill would create a five-year pilot program under which as many as 1.5 million illegal farm workers could acquire legal status through new "Z-A" visas. To qualify, they have to have worked at least 150 days in U.S. agriculture within the two years ending Dec. 31, 2006. They then would have at least 150 more days over three years or 100 days over five years to be eligible for legal permanent residency.

TK: Delivering Republican votes in the House of Representatives is going to be a critical task for President Bush to achieve what so many people in this country want to see happen.

What's on the Surface

Guest blogger Lance Jungmeyer here ...

If you are reading this post, you are probably doing it through some software or hardware that has ties to Bill Gates.

In the future, your computer may be on your desktop. Gates recently unveiled Surface, a new computing platform that could change everything. (Yeah, we've all heard that before.)

A user basically touches a screen, drags items by fingertip, increases the size of an item by spreading the fingers wider apart, etc. The computer will allow more than one user to manipulate it at once, which could be handy in group meetings.

"The radical new approach starts with the guts of the device itself. Under the impact-resistant plastic top skin on an otherwise nondescript table hide five infrared scanners, a projector, and a wireless modem. The scanners recognize objects and shapes placed on the top and respond to them accordingly."

Put a wi-fi camera on top of the Surface and it automatically downloads the pictures.

I wonder how a computer such as this could be integrated into the world of fresh produce.

Retail Consolidation to Continue?

Guest blogger Lance Jungmeyer chiming in ...

Wall Street is all atwitter at the thought of another retail buyout.

This story from the Cincinnati Post shows that traders are expecting a buyout of The Kroger Co., perhaps from a private-equity firm.

The article states that "some traders Tuesday were signaling their expectations that Kroger shares are due a strong run-up in the coming few weeks, buying call options that allow them to pay $30 and $35 for the stock by late June."

Kroger shares, trading at about $30 on Tuesday, haven't been close to $35 since 1999 when they topped out at $34.91

No license to kill

Guest blogger Lance Jungmeyer chiming in ...

More and more media reports are focusing on Chinese food exports and an environment there that permits, if not encourages, malfeasance.

Buried in this article from the Brisbane Times is this nugget:

"An administration survey found that almost one-third of China's 450,000 food production companies, mostly smaller companies employing less than 10 people, were unlicensed."

At least China is starting to take the food safety problem seriously. But the reaction seems more kneejerk than is necessary.

The article notes how Zheng Xiaoyu, head of the State Food and Drug Administration from 1998 until 2005 was charged with taking bribes and faces the death penalty for the nation's ongoing export-oriented food safety woes.

PACA's new rule

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued a final rule regarding trust protection for produce sellers when using electronic invoicing.

Here is the summary from the final rule:

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is amending the regulations under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) to ensure that the status of sellers of perishable agricultural commodities as trust creditors is protected when electronic data interchange (EDI) or other forms of electronic commerce are used to invoice buyers. Specifically, the amendments require that a buyer licensed under the PACA or its third party representative accept the PACA trust notice submitted to it by a seller on a paper, electronic invoice, or other billing statement. In addition, the buyer must allow sufficient data space for the required trust language regardless of the billing medium. Finally, any failure, act or omission inconsistent with this responsibility is unlawful and a violation of the PACA.


TK: There should be no hue and cry from retailers or other buyers about this rule. The USDA said that the proposed rule drew 41 comments during the period that ended Jan. 8, and all were supportive of the language in the proposed rule. The proposed rule was published without revisions as the final rule.