Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

When the U.S. tried to replace migrant farmworkers with high schoolers (2018)

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 88 posts

Re: When the U.S. tried to replace migrant farmworkers with high schoolers (2018)

#21

Post by cjbgkagh »

Jtsummers wrote: post #11
cjbgkagh wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Trump team has already stated they are limiting deportations to criminal illegals, so I guess just people who are in the US illegally and have committed a separate crime. This is before any real opposition has been mounted where it’s expected he’ll cave anyway. Trump is more likely to start a war with Iran than he is to do any sort of mass deportation. Also a weird thing is happening with automation, it’s getting…

> limiting deportations to criminal illegals That's where they're intending to start (deporting those convicted of, possibly charged with, other crimes). Neither he nor his representatives have said that that's where they'll stop.

I guess we could assume he is pretending to bend towards the middle in order to avoid spooking people prior to consolidating power in the executive, after that he will pivot and cross the Rubicon. But Trump is no FDR so I don’t see him being able to pull that off even if he wanted to.

Re: When the U.S. tried to replace migrant farmworkers with high schoolers (2018)

#22

Post by blitzar »

begueradj wrote: post #4
ipnon wrote: post #2

This sounds quite sinister but it was a common summer job in Iowa for teenagers. You could make enough in a summer to buy a used car. Because of immigration these jobs are not really available for citizens anymore. I haven't heard of any teenagers taking this work in some time. You had to work long hours in the sun and heat but it was "an honest day's work."

A quick look at the profiles of teenagers on TikTok, Instagram and OnlyFans make me believe they have the physical and mental strength and will to work long hours in the sun in maybe the most physically taxing work ever: farm work.

Tell them it is a content farm and they will pay you for the summer.

Re: When the U.S. tried to replace migrant farmworkers with high schoolers (2018)

#23

Post by mmooss »

ipnon wrote: post #7
begueradj wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A quick look at the profiles of teenagers on TikTok, Instagram and OnlyFans make me believe they have the physical and mental strength and will to work long hours in the sun in maybe the most physically taxing work ever: farm work.

It's not that it's physically difficult. You don't have to lift very heavy or have much knowhow other than how to remove a husk from a corncob. But it's incredibly toilsome and boring. You get bussed out from your city or town for a few hours to the middle of nowhere. You bring a gallon of water and don your hat for shade. Then you trudge along endless rows of corn, husking and husking. The corn literally goes as far…

> It's not that it's physically difficult.

The OP very strongly disagrees, as do other descriptions I've read.

People here are talking about all farm work as the same thing; I think that betrays complete ignorance.

Re: When the U.S. tried to replace migrant farmworkers with high schoolers (2018)

#24

Post by mmooss »

nozzlegear wrote: post #12
ipnon wrote: post #2

This sounds quite sinister but it was a common summer job in Iowa for teenagers. You could make enough in a summer to buy a used car. Because of immigration these jobs are not really available for citizens anymore. I haven't heard of any teenagers taking this work in some time. You had to work long hours in the sun and heat but it was "an honest day's work."

> This sounds quite sinister but it was a common summer job in Iowa for teenagers. You could make enough in a summer to buy a used car. Yeah, I got my first job working on a family dairy when I turned 14. It was tough work, especially having to wake up at 3:30am on the weekends to go work outside in negative temperatures over the winters. It did help me purchase my first car and other things that my friends either co…

Is dairy work in Minnesota the same as picking watermelons in the desert? These are all different jobs, not really comparable.

Re: When the U.S. tried to replace migrant farmworkers with high schoolers (2018)

#25

Post by mmooss »

throwaway984393 wrote: post #18
ipnon wrote: post #2

This sounds quite sinister but it was a common summer job in Iowa for teenagers. You could make enough in a summer to buy a used car. Because of immigration these jobs are not really available for citizens anymore. I haven't heard of any teenagers taking this work in some time. You had to work long hours in the sun and heat but it was "an honest day's work."

The jobs are available for citizens. But they don't do them. And it's not because of immigration. Think about it for more than 5 seconds. They could just stop immigration for migrant workers and suddenly give citizens jobs. Every politician wants to be known as a job creator. But they don't. Why? There is not enough workers here. Proof? COVID. They stopped letting migrant workers in and farms failed left and right fr…

> It's not 1950 anymore. The world has changed.

Per the OP, the US needed migrant workers in the 1960s and before that - the OP is about a failed experiment in replacing migrant workers.

Re: When the U.S. tried to replace migrant farmworkers with high schoolers (2018)

#26

Post by SequoiaHope »

adamrezich wrote: post #15
emidoots wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Teenagers young and older are definitely still working on fields here in the US[0], and also a good portion now work the processing facilities instead[1][2]. Whether it qualifies as 'an honest day's work' these days - or a cruel and punishing existence - I'll leave for you to decide. [0] https://youtu.be/41vETgarh_8?si=S0dBolFjv04SSprh&t=497 [1] https://www.npr.org/2023/09/25/1201524399/child-labor-perdue... [2] http…

[flagged]

"The Labor Department is investigating Perdue Farms and Tyson Foods — two of the biggest poultry producers in the U.S. — after reports that migrant children as young as 13 have been working overnight shifts to clean the companies' plants. - The inquiry comes after The New York Times Magazine published last week a harrowing account of a 14-year-old boy, Marcos Cux, whose arm was nearly torn off while working at a Perdue slaughterhouse on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

According to the Times, Cux was hired by one of Perdue's contractors tasked with cleaning operations. He and other middle and high school-aged children made up about a third of the overnight shifts at the plant — handling acid and pressure hoses to wash away blood and meat scraps from industrial machines.

Under federal law, those tasks are strictly off limits for anyone under 18 because of the inherent risks. Cux admitted to lying about his age to get the job but the Times reported that it was a open secret among workers at the facility. The same practices were happening at a nearby Tyson-run plant."

Re: When the U.S. tried to replace migrant farmworkers with high schoolers (2018)

#27

Post by mmooss »

Interesting it was in 1965, around the time of the Cultural Revolution in China which forced masses of non-working class people to leave the cities and work on farms.

(I'm not certain of the exact timing of the farm labor program in China.)

Re: When the U.S. tried to replace migrant farmworkers with high schoolers (2018)

#28

Post by astrange »

begueradj wrote: post #4
ipnon wrote: post #2

This sounds quite sinister but it was a common summer job in Iowa for teenagers. You could make enough in a summer to buy a used car. Because of immigration these jobs are not really available for citizens anymore. I haven't heard of any teenagers taking this work in some time. You had to work long hours in the sun and heat but it was "an honest day's work."

A quick look at the profiles of teenagers on TikTok, Instagram and OnlyFans make me believe they have the physical and mental strength and will to work long hours in the sun in maybe the most physically taxing work ever: farm work.

I hope you're not finding teenagers on OnlyFans, that sounds illegal.

Re: When the U.S. tried to replace migrant farmworkers with high schoolers (2018)

#30

Post by astrange »

cjbgkagh wrote: post #8
Afforess wrote: post #3

Setting aside the moral component, and focusing on the economic; the Trump deportation plan is red carpet invitation for consolidation. Agriculture today is a declining mix of many medium and small growers, with a few mega growers that have increasingly concentrated their market share of output. Deportation will greatly accelerate this trend, consolidating most agriculture under a few mega growers. Small and medium s…

The Trump team has already stated they are limiting deportations to criminal illegals, so I guess just people who are in the US illegally and have committed a separate crime. This is before any real opposition has been mounted where it’s expected he’ll cave anyway. Trump is more likely to start a war with Iran than he is to do any sort of mass deportation. Also a weird thing is happening with automation, it’s getting…

[flagged]
Post reply on HN