Letter: Central Valley would survive

Thursday, Aug. 2, 2001 | 8:51 a.m.

Without illegals there will be no produce, or grapes will cost $2 a pound: The spurious argument similar to this that was advanced by John Huelbig in his July 31 letter has been with us since 1970, when corporate agribusiness brought in hordes of illegals to break Caesar Chavez's farm workers movement.

All four California counties with unemployment higher than 11 percent are agricultural counties in the Central Valley. The labor is there for a decent wage and working conditions, and two counties have begun "resettlement" programs for unemployed farm workers.

With each new crop we also harvest a new crop of illegals. Most do not go back to work in the fields. Smaller farmers have no real problem finding labor and most laborers are repeat workers.

Without illegals we will still have produce and it will be produce without negative social consequences. Perhaps Mr. Huelbig will do some labor market research and he'll discover that cotton is the second-most labor-intensive farm product in the valley. Will he tell us that without illegals we shall go naked?

KENNETH RECORD