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Comment by decebalus1 | Hacker News Reader

> I actually assume farmers are very welcoming of technology

They should be, especially wrt to automation, considering farmers have been the most prolific in hiring undocumented workers while at the same time being some of the most vocal republican supporters. WAY less cognitive dissonance.

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A lot of them use legitimate guest worker systems, and it benefits everyone to have access to these workers.

'a lot of them' means exactly nothing. How many? Do you have some numbers?

Last time I checked, the dept of labor was saying that about 40% of all agricultural workers are illegal immigrants and United Fresh Produce Association between 50 and 70 percent. So yeah, a lot of them don't use 'legit' systems. It must be very hard to cheer for building 'the wall' while employing illegals and getting federal subsidies. That's why I have great faith in farming automation as it would provide some well deserved relief.

Farmers is plural - there are many of them and they do not agree. The farmers hiring illegals are not the same ones against building the walls.

I do know a farmer who have stopped offering more wages when they didn't get anyone to agree to work for $25/hr - meanwhile he can find illegals who will work for $15. (Compare to what walMart pays, he isn't trying to hire engineers)

I don't understand what the relief would be. replacing non-american workers with machines does nothing to help American workers

Correct, it helps the farms remain profitable. My wife is a winemaker and even with the guest worker program they are not able to find enough workers. The salaries have gone above $20/hr, though the way overtime works is different and requires a lot more than 40 hours of work (for now). Don't have the time to put together a well referenced document, but the inability to hire workers at what I feel is above the value of the work is a real problem.

Two differences — and I’m not saying they’re “good” or “bad” because I refuse to claim I understand economics well enough — is that money flowing to undocumented workers is likely to be untaxed and money flowing to foreign citizens who neither live locally nor spend much locally will have some sort of impact on inflation, as there will be less currency circulating within the nation doing the employing.

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