Wednesday headline roundup - Aug. 27

Headlines snatched from the Web and the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group this morning:


2 plead guilty in Hunts Point gambling ring - Big Apple From the post:

Two men with reputed ties to organized crime pleaded guilty on Tuesday to participating in an illegal gambling ring run out of a wholesale produce market at Hunts Point in the Bronx.

Systems approach for Chilean grape imports - Big Apple Pretty big news here in a FR proposed rule. From the post:

We are proposing to amend the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow fresh table grapes from Chile to be imported into the continental United States under a systems approach. Currently, as condition of entry, all table grapes from Chile must be fumigated with methyl bromide as a risk-mitigation measure for Brevipalpus chilensis. Under this proposal, we would allow a combination of risk-mitigation measures, or systems approach, to be employed in lieu of methyl bromide fumigation.

Hundreds of workers held in immigration raid NYT reports:

In another large-scale workplace immigration crackdown, federal officials raided a factory here on Monday, detaining at least 350 workers they said were in the country illegally

Cell phones seen as emerging payment device at grocery stores

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Supermarkets may be the next target market for near field communication phones, at least according to presentations during the recent IT Leadership Summit of the National Retail Federation.

One of the presenters, an executive for supermarket chain Cincinnati-based Kroger says NFC phones are a good fit for supermarkets because of their time-saving potential. “Nobody stands in a grocery line because it’s a pleasure. We are looking to shave more than seconds off that line,” he said. He was one of several panelists discussing “Mobility and Near-field Communication - The New Era of Ubiquitous Retailing.”

Chiquita signs deal for China venture From the story:

Under the agreement, which is subject to regulatory approval, Chiquita and Haitong will form Zhejiang Chiquita-Haitong Food Co. Ltd. The venture will operate a food-processing facility in Cixi, China, where it will produce packaged salads, fresh-cut fruits and vegetables and fresh chilled beverages, according to a news release.


Cafeteria trays disappear in bid to fight obesity

Grocers fight to hold on to customers

Survey says shoppers won't compromise on food quality The no-spin zone? Not exactly... a release from Whole Foods:

Whole Foods, the leading natural and organic foods supermarket, today announced results from a recent survey that found, despite rising food prices, nearly 80 percent of U.S. adults (79 percent) say they do not want to compromise on the quality of the food they buy and the majority (70 percent) are continuing to buy the same amount of natural and/or organic foods as they always have.

Immigration: too hot for DNC

Economy making us greener?

Housing recession builds

U.S. Economy: between zero growth and recession

Dole considers investment in Angola

Children Emulate Healthy Eating Patterns of Parents

WIC to offer fresh fruits and vegetables

Wal-Mart Canada expects bigger market share

FDA pursues jalapeno at root of salmonella investigation

Immigration - reverse flow

You may have seen the headlines about the report from the Center for Immigration Studies, called Homeward bound: recent immigration enforcement and the decline in the illegal alien population
Here are some highlights from the report;

Among the findings:

• Our best estimate is that the illegal immigrant population has declined by 11 percent through May 2008 after hitting a peak in August 2007.
• The implied decline in the illegal population is 1.3 million since last summer, from 12.5 million to 11.2 million today.
• The estimated decline of the illegal population is at least seven times larger than the number of illegal aliens removed by the government in the last 10 months, so most of the decline is due to illegal immigrants leaving the country on their own.
• One indication that stepped-up enforcement is responsible for the decline is that only the illegal immigrant population seems to be affected; the legal immigrant population continues to grow.
• Another indication enforcement is causing the decline is that the illegal immigrant population began falling before there was a significant rise in their unemployment rate.
• The importance of enforcement is also suggested by the fact that the current decline is already significantly larger than the decline during the last recession, and officially the country has not yet entered a recession.
• While the decline began before unemployment rose, the evidence indicates that unemployment has increased among illegal immigrants, so the economic slow-down is likely to be at least partly responsible for the decline in the number of illegal immigrants.
• There is good evidence that the illegal population grew last summer while Congress was considering legalizing illegal immigrants. When that legislation failed to pass, the illegal population began to fall almost immediately.
• If the decline were sustained, it would reduce the illegal population by one-half in the next five years.

Here is the rest of the story, from the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform:


“IMMIGRATION ATTRITION THROUGH ENFORCEMENT” – A DISASTER IN SOLUTION’S CLOTHING


Today, the immigration-restrictionist Center for Immigration Studies will unveil a report that contends that the strategy of “attrition through enforcement” is working. The group suggests that 1.3 million unauthorized immigrants have self-deported, and argues that tougher enforcement is working. The claim itself is dubious; more importantly, our nation’s leaders mustn’t lose sight of the true impact of an enforcement-only strategy: if it succeeds, America will lose much of her ability to feed her people.

Are unauthorized immigrants leaving the country? Undoubtedly, the slowing economy is causing shifts in employment patterns. However, such shifts don’t necessarily mean “self-deportation”. Indeed, many agricultural employers across the country report that some experienced workers who left agriculture over the last several years to work inconstruction or other sectors have returned as those sectors (e.g., homebuilding) have shed jobs. Yet, this temporary shift does not solve the growing agricultural labor crisis.


In 2006 and 2007, many producers reported developing labor shortages. In the more serious cases, catastrophic losses resulted – at least one quarter of the pear crop in northern California was lost in 2006; in 2007 one million pounds of asparagus in one western Michigan county went to rot and a North Carolina pickle processor that had to import cucumbers from India when a local supplier scaled back over fears of too few harvest workers.


In 2008, mounting evidence shows that more farmers are making management decisions to plant less, switch to mechanized and subsidized row crops rather than high value fruits and vegetables, and even move production outside the U.S.

As CIS attempts to paint a picture that self-deportation is happening, and offers a solution to fixing America’s broken immigration system, the truly important question is this: if enforcement could actually succeed at purging the American workforce of unauthorized immigrants, what would be the result? In agriculture, the answer is clear. Much of our food production could not be sustained.


The fresh fruit, vegetable, and dairy sectors would be hit the hardest. A majority of the farmworkers planting, harvesting, and tending fruits, vegetables, dairy cows, and other livestock in the U.S. are unauthorized.


In Texas, a recent survey conducted by Texas A&M University reported that 77 percent of grower respondents had taken steps to actively downsize their businesses.

More than one quarter of these American farmers had moved some of their production out of the U.S.

One major melon and onion grower in Pecos County, producing for 20 years on 2200 acres with a $2 million payroll and an additional $2.6 million in economic activity generated in the community, called it quits this year, because of labor.

The largest tomato grower in the northeastern U.S. announcedbefore the planting season started that he could no longer risk producing tomatoes in Pennsylvania due to the lack of legally authorized harvest labor.

A more recent survey of a select group of vegetable producers in California reveals that 80,000 acres of high-value vegetable production have been relocated to Mexico.

The facts are stark. “Attrition through enforcement” means attrition of the American economy. It means job attrition. It means attrition of our nation’s ability to produce our own wholesome and abundant food. It means relying on the world to feed us. “Attrition through enforcement” is no solution. It is a hungry wolf in sheep’s clothing. True solutions are within reach, if Congress musters the courage and the wisdom to act. For agriculture, Senator Dianne Feinstein’s Emergency Agriculture Relief Act would provide temporary stability until Congress is able to revisit the issue of full and wise reform of our broken immigration system.


More news coverage:

Report about dwindling information sparks debate

ERS Farm worker report

Bringing the statistic that half of all hired farm workers are unauthorized, here is a link to the 2008 report on hired farm workers from the USDA ERS. From the report's summary:


Profile of hired farmworkers: a 2008 update
Current estimates indicate that more than 1 million hired farmworkers are employed in U.S. agriculture. Economic and demographic trends have elicited an increased interest in hired armworkers, including the impact they have on U.S agricultural production. While productivity gains have gradually reduced the total agricultural labor force, hired farmworkers continue to play an important role in this industry.
What Is the Issue?
Hired farmworkers make up a third of the total agricultural labor force and are critical to U.S. agricultural production, particularly for labor-intensive sectors such as fruits and vegetables. the hired-farmworker labor market is unique because it includes a relatively disadvantaged nd sometimes mobile workforce, a large proportion of whom lack authorization to work in the United States. Although agriculture employs less than 2 percent of the U.S. labor force, recent economic and demographic trends such as agricultural production methods that permit year-round employment, expanding immigrant populations in nonmetropolitan counties, and growing concerns over U.S. immigration policies have increased interest in hired farmworkers.

What Did the Study Find?
• In 2006, an average 1.01 million hired farmworkers made up a third of the estimated 3 million people employed in agriculture. The other 2.05 million included self-employed farmers and their unpaid family members.
• Productivity gains have gradually reduced the total agricultural labor force and the number of hired farmworkers within it.
• Expanding nonfarm economic opportunities for farmers and their family members have increased farmers’ reliance on hired farm labor.
• Despite new patterns of Hispanic population settlement in rural areas, the geographic distribution of farmworkers has not changed signifi cantly in the past decade. California Florida, Texas, Washington, Oregon, and North Carolina account for half of all hired and contracted farmworkers.
• Hired farmworkers are disadvantaged in the labor market relative to most other U.S. wage and salary workers. On average, hired farmworkers are younger, less educated, more likely to be foreign-born, less likely to speak English, and less likely to be U.S. citizens or to have alegally authorized work permit.
• According to the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), which offers the most precise data available on farmworker legal status, half of all hired crop farmworkers lack legal authorization to work in the U.S.

ICE ICE Baby

Here is some context to Immigration and Customs Enforcement: From their Web site.

With the launch of the second phase of the Secure Border Initiative, ICE has initiated a strategic shift in the way it approaches employers that intentionally violate the law and knowingly hire illegal aliens by bringing criminal charges against them and seizing their illegally-derived assets -- rather than relying on the old tactic of administrative fines as sanctions. Last fiscal year, this new approach resulted in 127 criminal convictions, up from 46 the previous fiscal year. More employers are also being charged with money laundering violations, which can result in prison sentences of up to 20 years. Last year, a single ICE worksite enforcement investigation resulted in a settlement and forfeiture of $15 million, an amount that represented the largest worksite enforcement penalty in U.S. history and surpassed the sum of all administrative fines from the previous eight years. ICE seeks to enhance its worksite enforcement investigations with proposed additional funding. The Administration's fiscal year 2007 budget request seeks $41.7 million in new funds and 171 additional agents to enhance ICE's worksite enforcement efforts. Most recently, ICE brought criminal charges against seven current and former managers of the nation’s largest pallet services company and arrested more than 1,000 of the company’s illegal alien employees.


TK: The phrase "employers that intentionally violate the law and knowingly hire illegal aliens" is operative here. Employers who recruit illegals knowingly are headed for trouble. but are there degrees of plausible deniability built into a system that uses staffing companies and labor contractors? Plus, ag employers have no way of identifying legal workers through a bio-metrics card or any other fail-safe means right now.