"As for farm labor,we should just bite the bullet and pay more for legal workers, and inovate!  How did America go from 80% engaged to farming in 1930 to 4 % engaged today, because of decreased demand for food?  Innovation/mechanization (resulting in skilled worker demand)".

 I'm a Christmas tree farmer and I hire migrant workers during peak  work times.  My workers are paid $11/hr. to $15/hr. and receive bonuses on work ability and number of years they return to work for me.  We also pay social security on their wages.  They move from crop to crop to stay busy for most of the year picking apples in the fall, pruning apple trees in the winter.  The problem I have is that at harvet time 6 weeks of 8 hour days is required to do the job from the first week in November to the 2nd week in December.  Harvest is very hard work as some trees weigh as much as 100 lbs. each with 20,000 harvested anually.  High school kids are in school, The people that are unemployed in this country are unemployed for a reason eigther they are lazy, not dependable or have drug and or alcohol issues.  I have tried to hire some of these people and they last until about noon the first day.  The migrant workers are all that we have.  I have workers that want to live in Mexico and come here each year for seasonal work but are afraid to go home because they don't feel they can make it back into this country.  We need a guest worker program desperately in this country.  Eliminating the migrant workers will cripple the remaing agriculture in this country.  Food will be brought in from other countries that have lower labor costs.  Farmers here growing rasberries using machine pickers can't compete with berries shipped in from south america so they don't pick them and they rot on the vines.  The berry industry is all but dead now in Oregon.

 Doubling the price of a Christmas tree will push even more people into artificial trees that are made from petroleum products in factories in China.  One acre of Christmas trees produces oxegon for 18 people for a year.  It's renewable and employs people in this country.  I buy tractors, trucks and other farm equipment, pay insurance, this provides jobs and boost our economy.  If I go under because I can't get labor or my labor costs drive prices too high, then our whole economy suffers.  How many more jobs are we going to send overseas before our economy collapses.  I think this country is heading for tough times.

Sorry for the novel

All the best,

Steve