Can’t believe its June already. I saw local strawberries out this past weekend. I’ve been enjoying Lyle Wells’ asparagus and Schmitt’s spinach for a couple of weeks already, nothing better than “Grown on Long Island” produce.
I’m off to Albany today to work with New York Farm Bureau to stop bad legislation from happening. The issue of the day is a proposal to require a voluntary day of rest for farm workers, which we have no problem with. Most farm workers want to work as many hours as possible, as they are here to make money. The bigger concern is the proposal that farmers would have to pay overtime to farm workers. Farmers view their workers as part of the family. Many times the farmer and their children work side by side in the fields with their workers. Farming is not a 9 to 5 occupation as it is very seasonal and weather dependent, which means some days are sun-up to sundown especially during harvest season. But, the analogy I use is farmers are not manufacturing widgets, where the cost of production including labor can be passed on to the end user, the customer or consumer. If a widget cost more to produce, a manufacturer can get the investment back by raising the price of the widget. Farmers participate in the world market of produce and agricultural commodities whereby the price is determined by supply and demand and changes daily. Just because a farmer’s input cost increase such as fertilizer, labor or whatever does not mean he will be able to get more for his product. It is the market condition and availability of the product that determines price.
The proposed legislation to help farm workers will immediately cost New York farmers 250 million dollars in the cost of doing business. I believe the legislation is not well thought out and will actually hurt farm workers rather than help them. Farmers will adapt and go to shift labor rather than absorb the overtime payments. They can’t and they won’t. Therefore, workers will be limited to 40 hours of time rather than the 50, 60 they seek to support their families. Unintended consequences of bad public policy are something to be considered in such proposals.