Migrant labor dries up, threatening apple harvest

[TexasTowelie]

DANA - Between a fungal disease that sounds like a Disney villain and farmers having their labor pool looted, apple growing isn't quite the idyllic pursuit it seems at first blush.

"It's kind of a cutthroat business," said Don Ward, owner of T&D Orchards, bouncing down the mountain to Polk County in a truck full of apples.

Those apples were picked in Dana, a quiet Western North Carolina town, with a small post office, a few larger churches, and a Mexican mercado to supply the day laborers. It's the heart of apple country, filled with picturesque and rolling orchards, Sugarloaf Mountain rising in the distance.

It's a peaceful scene that belies the worry the men who own these fields feel. Growers like Ward have numerous challenges: disease, weather and pests. But no challenge seems more dire than the labor shortage, with not enough workers and a crop that's ripening at least a week or two ahead of schedule this year.

Read more: http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2016/09/01/local-farms-feel-labor-pinch-fall-harvest-threatened/89209674/

[egold2604]

1. Law of unintended consequences bites them in the ass. Get rid of the illegals. Farmers go bankrupt

[femmocrat]

2. K & R

Excellent article... I highly recommend it! No wonder those honeycrisps are so darn expensive.

[TexasTowelie]

3. We have the same taste in apples.

My two favorites are the honeycrisps and the winesaps. Unfortunately, I don't eat as many apples as I used to since I had to move into dentures.

[femmocrat]

4. It will be interesting to see the prices this year, after reading your article.

I haven't seen them in the stores yet, but they are never cheap. I don't mind paying extra because they are so much better than delicious apples. Too bad the farmers don't get a fair share of the mark-up.

[TexasTowelie]

5. I was looking at them earlier this week and if remember correctly they were going

for $2.49/lb. at the HEB in my town. I don't do much baking, but I do love them on my tuna and peanut butter sandwiches.along with dipping them in caramel. I do agree with you about the red delicious apples--it's almost like eating cardboard in comparison.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Call Trump. He says he has 'real Americans' to do the jobs

of migrants. You know the migrants stole those apple picking jobs.