Intervention for America

By Cindy Gomez
Editor

America needs to wake up. The people that work on our farms should be honored for the work they do. This is hard work in varying weather conditions, from hot to wet to cold, and always long hours. They show up each day with great attitudes, work hard, and truly exhibit the family values that most people in America only talk about. These folks are the vitality of our economy. Any society that doesn’t take care of and honor them is a society destined for failure. 
-Andy Grant, owner of Grant Farms in Wellington, Colo.

Twenty years ago, when I was still in high school, people were having this nonsensical debate about ridding America of immigrant labor, particularly farm laborers without legal documentation.

The argument was much as it is today. However, there was one notable difference. People had the common sense to say “If we get rid of the farm workers, how will we harvest our food? What kind of prices will we pay for a tomato without them?”

Today, that common sense has gone out the window.

Will American vitriol about “aliens” and “illegals” supersede even the need for basic survival in this country? I guess we’re all about to find out!

A federal judge has made one of the most important decisions of this decade—about beets. He has ruled that farmers cannot plant Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) beets this year.

Already, the news is sending farmers in North Dakota into a tailspin. Some will be able to find non-GMO beet seed, but it is in short supply. Round-up Ready beets were weed-resistant and most farmers no longer have the equipment necessary to weed the beets, nor the readily available migrant farm labor to do the work.

If you have been following Monsanto, GMO’s, and how they have affected everything relating to agriculture you know that GMO’s:

(1) Have limited the variety and availability of seeds that farmer’s can plant; thereby limiting the variety of produce we as consumers eat.

(2) Weed control has been so effective with GMO’s that much of the necessary farm labor needed to maintain and harvest crops has been eliminated.

(3) In 2006, 89 % of soybeans, 83 % of cotton, and 61 % of corn were GMO’s. It is estimated that 75% of all the food we consume contains some GMO’s (If you really want to freak yourself out, check out this list of current GMO foods: http://tiny.cc/GMOinfo.

(4) GMO’s can contaminate other farmers’ fields. This exposes farmers with contaminated fields to lawsuits by the seed producers, for copyright infringement.

Environmental lawyers and citizen groups have sued the USDA and seed producers to stop them from growing or releasing further GMO’s into the environment.

In his shocking decision, the federal judge revoked the USDA’s approval of GMO beet seeds until an environmental impact study is completed. Since that will likely take a couple years, farmers in the Red River Valley will have to make do. With over 60% of America’s sugar coming from beets, and smaller beet harvests due to this decision, sugar prices are expected to jump.

And we’re just talking beets here—wait until this happens with all the rest of America’s crops!
The writing is on the wall. Yet even the voices of reason have come down with laryngitis.

Take decorated war general and famous moderate Republican Colon Powell, for instance. He recently went on “Meet The Press”, and spoke out on behalf of illegal immigrants. He reasoned that America depends on cheap immigrant labor.

The son of Jamaican immigrants himself, Powell is calling for a path to legalization for illegal immigrants, arguing that they are “what’s keeping this country’s lifeblood moving forward.”

During his interview he candidly added that “They’re all over my house, doing things whenever I call for repairs, and I’m sure you’ve seen them at your house. We’ve got to find a way to bring these people out of the darkness and give them some kind of status.”

Whoops! Did he just admit to hiring illegal aliens on national television? Powell had to do some quick backtracking to get himself out of that one, I’m sure.

I can only imagine the threats looming over Powell for his admission. He retracted his statement as best he could, saying contractors brought people to his home and he didn’t know for sure if the workers were illegal or not. Wink, wink! I think we all know what he really meant.

Don’t be afraid, Colin! You had it right the first time, when you were telling Americans that you hire illegals and they do too.

Being afraid to say “I hire illegal labor” is only going make a grave problem worse.

We cannot be afraid to say that we support illegal immigrant labor, because we all do, or have, or will! We do it directly, or through the businesses we support, the groceries we buy, the contractors we hire our labor through, the members of congress we elect with our votes, the generals leading our armies.

Every single American benefits from illegals, so we are all complicit in making them illegal.
Illegals aren’t just planting and harvest our crops. They are taking care of our children so we can go to college and work two jobs. They landscape our homes and offices, clean our buildings, construct our homes, make our hotel beds, do our electrical work, lay our carpet, do the plumbing, lay brick, and shingle our roofs.

Forgetting for a moment the impact that the continued exodus of illegal labor will have on all non-agricultural jobs, imagine the impact to our food supply alone. The situation isn’t going to get easier with decisions by federal judges which force farmers to go back to old methods of harvesting crops.

Will those who want to “whitewash” America lobby for GMO’s just to keep “aliens” out? What will happen when we experience food shortages in the richest country in the world because we’re too stubborn or proud to admit we need the “aliens” we keep kicking around?

Let’s stop acting like we’re the johns and illegals are the call girls. We need them, they need us, and we’re both consenting adults.

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