Apples to Apples
City Newspaper, in their dining section this week, reminds us of upcoming local festivals, many centered around New York State apples. There’s Wyoming County’s Apple Umpkin Festival in the historic Gaslight Village, the Hilton Apple Fest, Wolcott’s Apple Harvest Festival and Sportsmen’s Show, Wayne County’s Apple Tasting Tour, and the Great Sodus Bay Association’s Apple Feast. Will this be the last year for these events?…..
New York State apple growers will have a problem on their hands when Bush’s new immigration plan is set in motion:
Apple growers in New York State depend on as many as 8,000 seasonal workers to pick the fruit each year. But with the U.S. Government breathing down their necks, billions of apples could end up on the ground.
There are 45,000 acres of apple orchards in New York State. And farm workers pick as many as 30 million bushels of apples a year. But all of that could be threatened by a new immigration rule pushed by President Bush in August. If a farm worker is found using a fake social security number, the employer would have to fire the worker or face a $10,000 fine.
“We don’t have a dependable and reliable labor force to harvest our crops,†said Jim Allen, the President of the New York Apple Association.
He says the immigration reform has failed apple growers.
“To think that we could find 3 to 4,000 workers for three months here in Wayne County or here in this area to harvest apples it’s just not realistic,” said Allen.
I don’t agree with the idea that these immigrants are taking work away from local workers. There are very few US citizens who would work for 3 months, for minimum wage, or below. Why can’t we have a plan to offer seasonal permits for these workers who return every year to the same farms to pick the apples? I really don’t think this is rocket science. Why does every plan that comes from this administration have to be so poorly thought through?
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Don’t forget the Naples Grape Festival this weekend.