this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/32291701

The reason is simple: an increase in immigration enforcement, including high-profile ICE raids, shook Texas farm workers to their core. The news filtered fast that workers—regardless of legal status—chose safety over a salary.

Farmers, who had been working with their crews for decades, described the loss as “devastating” and “unprecedented.” This is alarming as most farms are founded upon immigrant labor, both legal and illegal, creating a domino effect for the food system as a whole.

. . . When farm workers vanish, the effects are felt far beyond the fields. Livestock is untended, crops go unpicked, food production declines, and food prices dramatically increase. In Texas alone, where specialty vegetables and fruits must be hand-picked, worker shortages jeopardize entire harvest seasons.

This results in fewer foods on grocery store shelves, higher prices for families nationwide, and a greater reliance on imports. Threads on Reddit and YouTube are already predicting price hikes and empty produce shelves.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

Ain't you redneck chucklefucks glad you voted red? Enjoy losing your farm.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

To all those farmers, the only thing I could possibly say is,

“I hope you have the day you voted for”.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I hope we see more of this and the farmers that voted red, feel the pain they voted for. I don’t care if it cause a bigger issue. At this point I’m ready to rebuild America

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

It'd be funny if it wasn't going to affect the rest of the population that didn't vote for a psychotic nutjob.

[–] [email protected] 132 points 3 days ago (2 children)

The Texas farmers....."How can Biden do this to us?"

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Every single one of these people in every story still supports Trump. Makes no sense.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Cipolla explains why, see rule 3 and also why you don't understand, see rule 4

These are Cipolla's five fundamental laws of stupidity:

  1. Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

  2. The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.

  3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.

  4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places, and under any circumstances, to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.

  5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.

Also, you can't make things idiot proof, they will always build a bigger idiot.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

I think it boils down to this....

Hardcore MAGA can't admit when they're wrong. These are the parents that never say sorry to their kids. They are ALWAYS right. They will be homeless on the street before Trump did this to them. They're team players, not individuals with a compass.

Just sheep.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 days ago

Thanks Obama.

[–] [email protected] 90 points 3 days ago (2 children)

This is the ultimate Texan dog-that-caught-the-car moment. I remember talking about this in school in Texas 25 years ago when Republicans were complaining about immigration. Several students brought up that the farms are all tended by "seasonal workers," which meant immigrant labor, so what was the Republican answer to that? They didn't have one, of course, not a realistic one. It was the same talking points then as now of "American workers" filling the gap, and even then those jobs didn't pay a living wage, so no American would take them. I bet they pay worse now.

They had 25 years to figure this out, but of course they had no intention of figuring it out.

[–] [email protected] 70 points 3 days ago (1 children)

They're gonna arrest the immigrant farm workers and then lease them right back to the same farms as slaves.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 days ago

There it is. This is how the money flows. Private prison labor.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

They didn’t have one, of course, not a realistic one.

When I try to have discussions around this I often take elements of their language and point out that market forces make it unattractive for citizens to work there, but it can be good for immigrants. Sometimes they get it, but often too indoctrinated into the republican party to act differently.

[–] [email protected] 93 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Have the day you voted for, Texas.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 days ago

Ironic that about 40% of them didn't vote, so I sincerely hope those 40% are getting rat fucked like the rest of us who voted for sanity are.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 3 days ago

Very predictable result of criminalizing the people who do the work.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 3 days ago (6 children)

a corporation that cannot pay labor what it requires (ie the market) should choose: shut down or shut down. profit is stolen wage, too. So… yeah.

Remember kids: corporations are not people. Unlike babies, corporations can be thrown out with the bath water.

Pay labor a living wage or get fucked.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Totally get it, super on board, but uh, to circle back to the here and now for a second, we kinda need food? So the situation as it is right now really blows.

Some people are joking about $70 salads, but also there is a point in there. Farming sucks ass a job and if you paid people enough to incentivise folks to do it, that's something not a lot of farmers can do, especially small ones.

So what would an ideal solution be with the technology we have now?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Syndicalism. Farmers co-ops. Food from your lawn.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Not really elaborating on that much... Not everyone can afford to drive out to the country to work on a farm for food, and a lot of people don't have lawns.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I’m not saying a post reply on lemmy will cover what I mean or fix everything ; but my examples are things we can start with and they don’t hurt. Recovery from capitalism will take a long time.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Look, I'm all for dismantling capitalism, but you do your cause disservice if you criticize something, act like you have the answers, and then don't deliver. If you don't have the answers just say so up front.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

is it a disservice to the slave to leave his chains even if he has nowhere to go after?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

"Complaining about a problem without posing a solution is called whining." Teddy Roosevelt

I'm not saying to not discuss it. I'm not saying to stay a slave.

When were talking about people needing to eat, though, you're gonna need some solutions if you want to enact change. No one can do a revolution on an empty stomach, and if you're going to hand wave basic survival, you're not going to get anyone to follow you.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

i don’t understand. i mentioned some starter solutions. Do you want a logistical breakdown soup to nuts? You can confer with greater minds than mine for that.

Personally I do what I can. I help my neighbors and my community at large, as best as I can. And I support where I can, too.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Those weren't feasible solutions at all.

80% or so of America lives in cities. So they aren't going to be able to use a coop farm and a lot of them don't have land to grow anything on.

Also farming isn't something anyone can pick up. Sure, harvesting is pretty easy to learn, but for massive scale farming that we need to survive, you need specialized equipment, training and tools. Things most people just don't have.

Your "solutions" are hand waving ideas that haven't been thought through in the slightest.

They won't work.

Again, just to make sure I'm crystal here, I'm so for dismantling the insane capitalistic system we have, stopping the exploitation of farm workers, reforming our food industry, etc. I really super am on your side here. But if we want those changes you're gonna have to actually think through the solutions you're giving people and not just give some nothing burgers like these.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

what stops coop farms from bringing goods to cities?

also people have created solutions. they exist in the writings of folks like engels, etc.

Not having all the solutions should not stop people from recognizing things are shit.

Don’t gatekeep the emotional connection and instead ask leading questions.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Have you talked to the average American about agriculture? They would starve themselves in a few months.

Also, you would have to come up with rules on who grows what and how seed savings would work. You need to keep things that can cross pollinate away from each other.

Now you know the point of Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:9.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)
[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Funny how no part of the article mentioned hundreds of eager American workers rushing into those farm jobs. Nor the farmers/ranchers deciding they'd have to raise their prices and their pay rates.

That's probably because markets aren't going to pay more for the crops, and nobody wants to work that hard except people with no other options.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

It's the same thing after brexit. I cant find the source anymore. But something like 6000 non-immigrants signed up for farm work and only like ten showed up. And none stayed longer than two days. So it's not like they didn't have a recent example of how this would turn out.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago

I was talking to a friend there and he told me people in the suburbs are having trouble getting their lawns mowed now. So glad I got out of there.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Farmers will never learn, those people are the only ones willing to do the work. White kids have been raised that that work is beneath them

[–] [email protected] 42 points 3 days ago (7 children)

It isn't beneath me. I just don't think I could physically do it as a job. Also, the pay is bad. So, it's pretty low on my job list. I'd rather work a fast food job. And I never want to work one again.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Disagree. There are plenty of people who would do the work, they're just not willing to do it for the amount farmers are willing to pay.

Also, you'd have to be insane to do outside work in both Florida and Texas, now that both states have got rid of mandated water breaks for outdoor workers.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

Not to mention going there. Except for people desperate for work, who in their right mind would travel to magastan out in the country m, to shave away with no water or bathroom breaks, in the hot sun all day without even water for minimum wage? There are just so many reasons for an immediate no

[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 days ago

That yes, but also more.

One positive aspect of social media is showing the young how the world really works, to an extent I think.

Poor immigrants are generally in a more uninformed and desperate survival situation. Many probably aren't of the mindset "fuck slaving away 14hrs a day for shit pay to make a billionaire richer". They just generally don't think that way yet.

I personally would rather die than be forced to work in those conditions. I sympathize with them and wish they didn't have to either. But they're still currently the ones more desperate and willing to suffer.

I would be willing to help with farm work however, if the pay was significantly better, 4-6hrs per day, 2-3 days per week. But normalizing this would necessitate eradicating billionaires and even hundred millionaires. Obviously not gonna happen.

I'm just sayin' it's more than just white kids are lazy. At least I hope so.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 days ago

Nice try, racist. Stop splitting the working class up like that. Labor should be paid a living wage and any corp what cannot do that should fail. Race of the worker is irrelevant.

Capitalists have you convinced it is different between races but only because that distraction keeps capitalists exploiting the working class folk.

Ain’t no war but class war.

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