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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"Nobody to pick them"... Florida farmers plow their tomatoes under.
As the Trump administration proceeds with mass deportations of undocumented migrants, there are far fewer pickers in the fields, and crops are left to go bad.
One spoke to WSVN-Miami about fellow migrants leaving Florida each day. He spoke on condition of anonymity, concerned he might be deported himself. "A lot of people are really afraid, and sometimes they come, sometimes they don’t come,” he said. “And the harvest is lost because it cannot be harvested.”
The labor shortage also means Florida farmers have to pay more for labor. At the same time, they’re getting less money for their produce due to Trump’s tariff policies.
“You can’t even afford to pick them right now,” said Heather Moehling, president of the Miami-Dade County Farm Bureau. “Between the cost of the labor and the inputs that goes in, it’s more cost-effective for the farmers to just plow them right now.”
https://moneywise.com/news/economy/florida-farmers-now-plowing-over-perfectly-good-tomatoes-as-trumps-tariff-policies-cause-prices-to-plummet
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Johonny
(24,879 posts)And they will vote for it again and again.
Farmers - farm owners - represent a relatively tiny number of voters, and they vote consistently with small business owners in general. They skew to the right, and that is true internationally. Why? Deregulation, tax cuts, suppression of workers' rights. Of course.
Shoeless Louis
(89 posts)Cirsium
(3,033 posts)Granted, the post I responded to is vague.
uponit7771
(93,296 posts)Cirsium
(3,033 posts)Buying into the the right wing propaganda about this, which is exactly what you are doing with this "farmers FAFO" idiocy.
Farmers - farm owners - vote the way all owners do as a group - 60-40 or so Republican. The Republicans take care of the owners. It is the workers, the general public - you do eat food, yes? - and the impoverished and elderly who will suffer. You are a Democrat, right?
Beyond that, farm owners are a tiny, tiny sliver of the voting population, nowhere near big enough to affect elections.
uponit7771
(93,296 posts)... while patronizing the smaller owners.
Also, your reply doesn't address the fact majority of these farmers **DID** vote for PedoCon and wil so it again seeing few to any3are tying their current situation to their own actions
I do agree we need them to eat, we also need them to take accountability for their actions and vote
Cirsium
(3,033 posts)That is true in every field. The majority of owners in every sector vote Republican. Farmers don't matter, because there aren't enough of them.
The majority of white women voted for Trump. That had an enormous effect, unlike the mythical "farm vote." Should all women suffer now, because FAFO? Moreover, the majority of farm owners (all kinds of owners really) are white, and farmers vote the way the rest of the white population does. That could be your non-farming neighbors and relatives. What if we were to say "those stupid white people are going to be sorry now!" We would no doubt hear "not all white people," wouldn't we? Or "white women get everything they deserve! They voted for it, and they get no sympathy from me! FAFO time for them!" What would the reaction be to that?
No, we are not dependent on farmers to eat, we are dependent upon agriculture, and that means the entire public infrastructure. That is what I am defending, not the growers and certainly not the 60% who are Republican voting growers. The ignorant and misguided attacks on farmers undermine support for the infrastructure and are very bad politics for us.
Irish_Dem
(76,285 posts)Being logical would help strengthen your post.
And give specific reasons why the comment is not true.
Farmers are reaping the results of their votes.
This is 100% fact.
I don't know, here are some things I have posted on the topic before.
On the topic of "bail outs" -
Agriculture in the US has been subsidized for a long time in various ways - the Farm Credit program, Cooperative Extension, the Land Grant college system, farm Service agencies, the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the state and federal departments of agriculture, public health and safety agencies, soil and water conservation districts, etc.
The purpose of those programs is to benefit the general public, and that is most certainly the case. It is the eaters who are "bailed out" not the growers.
On the topic of whether or not the "farm vote" is consequential:
There are 3,000,000 or so workers in Missouri, and there are about 27,000 farm workers, a few of whom are actually owners — “farmers.”
By way of comparison, there are 358,470 people working in office and administrative occupations; 251,150 transportation workers; 200,200 heath care practitioners; 257,610 food service workers; 239,430 work in sales; 197,350 factory workers; 181,350 in financial occupations; 169,240 work in education; 159,960 health care support workers; 120,100 installation and repair workers; 116,510 construction workers; 85,000 computer related jobs; 82,140 maintenance workers; 60,980 law enforcement and emergency services; 58,460 personal care workers; 46,640 social services workers; 35,520 in engineering jobs; 33,440 in arts and entertainment.
https://meric.mo.gov/data/occupation/occupational-employment-wages
The “farm vote” is a myth.
Let’s look at Nebraska where we find the district with the highest concentration of farm owners.
Nebraska has about 22,000 full time farm owners, while 935,000 people in Nebraska voted in 2024. Farmers represent a little over 2% of the potential voters.
By way of comparison, Nebraska has 121,000 office workers, 101,000 healthcare workers, 88,000 restaurant workers, 80,000 sales agents, 72,000 managers and administrators, 59,000 financial agents, 57,000 teachers, 50,000 construction workers, 44,000 equipment installation, maintenance, and repair workers, 33,000 IT workers, 30, 000 truck drivers, 29,000 building and grounds cleaning and maintenance workers, 24,000 personal care and service workers, and so forth.
A lot of innocent people are harmed by FAFO. When food production is negatively impacted, the demographic that suffers is the 342,000,000 eaters. We should not be celebrating “FAFO.” Nor should we be perpetuating myths about agriculture. Included in those who are “getting what they voted for” in Nebraska are 369,995 Democratic voters, close to 40% of the vote, and 500,000 children.
It is not the “farm vote” that matters, it is what I call the “Walter Mitty vote.” That is to say white people who fantasize about being farmers — or soldiers, or pioneers, or lumberjacks, etc. — “real Americans! rugged individualists!” — but who actually live humdrum lives working in cubicles or driving around in traffic, while the glittering promises of the white settler project become farther and farther out of reach. It is easy to see how Republican politicians have played on that fantasy life and exploited it — Reagan on horseback, Bush and his phony ranch, Trump with his YMCA nonsense, Noem and whatever the hell she is doing. Trump promises them he will restore those glittering promises. Yippee-ki-ya-ya.
Don’t buy into the “farm vote” myth, which was created and disseminated by the right wing propagandists. It is nonsense.
In real life Walter Mitty is a forgetful husband, cowardly man, and passive individual. But, his imaginations fill him with the qualities he sees as being admirable in a man. As a commander of a hydroplane he is fearless and brave. When he becomes a surgeon he suddenly finds himself calm under pressure, brilliant, and skilled. In each instance Mitty finds respect and reverence from those around him. Masculinity, in one instance, is a social term that gains its meaning from the culture of the time.
https://medium.com/@brktrail/lessons-from-the-secret-life-of-walter-mitty-dcaecf7cd731
uponit7771
(93,296 posts)
Kid Berwyn
(22,138 posts)Owners have forgotten how to do work.
Aristus
(71,107 posts)Learn how to work! That's how you make money! Want a handout? Fuck you! Work for your money! (Does any of this sound familiar, Trumpsters?)
slightlv
(6,776 posts)rather than the "farmers" we think of from the days of the grapes of wrath? Those guys lost their farms to the banks, who sold them to corporate owners... and today, most of the food goes to one or two distributors on top of that. It used to be monopolies were against the law in this country. When did we repeal that law?
Cirsium
(3,033 posts)95% of the farms in the US are small family farms.
https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/2025/08-19-2025.php
Look at this crap defacing the USDA website:
"The Radical Left Democrats shutdown the government. This government website will not be updated during the funding lapse for mission critical functions. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people."
F*ck Trump.
slightlv
(6,776 posts)That's why the farmers are ploughing tomatoes and other food crops back into the ground, while people in this country (and elsewhere!) go hungry... having their food money stripped from them via recission, furloughs, layoffs, and just plain inflation and high tariffs.
And that's why he's bailing out South American countries while giving away the export treaties our farmers used to have with places like Chili, China, etc...
But damn! We'll bail out the farmers again this year... just like last time he was in office. I don't begrudge family farmers... but last time most of the money went to the corporate farmers, from what I remember. THAT I DO begrudge. They should take it on the chin for all the "patriotism" their republican mouths are screaming.
...
Generally speaking, being an owner means getting others to do most of the work. However, farmers in particular do work, much more so than most business owners.
North Coast Lawyer
(216 posts)Grain, corn, and soybean farmers may put in some time in tractor seats. However, fruit and vegetable farms aren't in the field picking produce.
Cirsium
(3,033 posts)True, owners are not picking, although they usually are in the field during harvest. The division of labor that is typical in any industry happens in farming, of course. Owners are more likely to be on a tractor, or repairing equipment, doing office work, or arranging sales and shipments, just like any owner anywhere in any industry. The several hundreds growers I know here are at it dawn to dusk, April through November at least.
Hotler
(13,505 posts)MAGA patriots should be down there helping bring in the crops to feed the American people. Send in the NG. 
did help bring in the crops, they would make sure the food would only go to magats.
BadgerMom
(3,345 posts)I think if non-MAGAs paid, they’d sell. I could be wrong, but I think the power of their greed is greater than the power of their opinions.
ChicagoTeamster
(55 posts)Maybe this was what they meant when they said a Mexican took their job. Well, where are they? Why aren't they jumping over each other to be first in line to take those jobs back?
Duncanpup
(15,259 posts)Let’s deploy the national guard.
Justice matters.
(9,000 posts)Not gonna happen.
Diamond_Dog
(38,763 posts)Wonder Why
(6,274 posts)paleotn
(21,031 posts)
RainCaster
(13,187 posts)Being hateful is their identity. They have no choice but to vote GOP. They vote this way because they hate. This is the life of the maga folks.
littlemissmartypants
(30,186 posts)No one has to give it any more attention. Except when deciding to eat. Then it might be a problem.
A Silent Truth Hidden in the Farm Economy: Farmer Suicides Are on the Rise
Cirsium
(3,033 posts)Never before in human existence has there been a population more alienated from and ignorant about the source of their own food as the people in the US are. That sure gets painfully obvious on these threads.
Farmers - farm owners - are no more right wing than business owners of all sorts are everywhere. In the US there are not enough farm owners to affect election results. I am in a rural agricultural district that goes 55-45 Republican typically. There are approximately 100,000 people, and 300 or so growers. Many of the growers here are staunch left wingers. Even in the most agriculture district in the country, in western Nebraska, there are not enough farmers to swing the vote.
I am afraid too many people look at those stupid red/blue maps, see all that red in rural areas, assume that those red areas are full of farmers, and then blame farmers for Republicans being in power. Here is a clue - acres don't vote, people do.
Cirsium
(3,033 posts)That is an ignorant and inflammatory comment.
Business owners of all sorts trend Republican. Why? Deregulation, tax cuts, suppression of workers' rights. That's Capitalism. If you want to criticize that, I am right there with you. But farmers are the last group of owners to attack.
RainCaster
(13,187 posts)I grew up in farming country. It's not just the farmers, it's their bankers, the equipment dealers/repair shops, truckers, rail agents, and farm hands and all the others in our community whose lives depend on farming. As a Dem in farming country, I was very much a minority.
As a business owner who started 4 different high tech companies over the years, I prefer a Democratic party run government. Why? Stability, lower taxes for employees, better schools, better healthcare and an appreciation for the fine arts. I have also held high level positions at some of the largest high tech firms in the world, and while they all spend on both sides, most of those making strategic decisions think like I do.
About the hate- it's very real. If you don't see it, you have a perception problem. I woman in my family is married to the rail agent. I've watched her go in to the local Walmart and watched her blood pressure rise. Eventually she has to shout it out loud "you're in America, speak English you @#$&". Everyone in her neighborhood feels the same way, they simply hate Hispanics. The farmers lead that parade, because they want to go back to the days when they provided shacks with no running water or power for their workers.
Cirsium
(3,033 posts)Don't let me stop you.
Every region and every industry has their bankers, equipment dealers, repair shops, truckers, rail agents, and workers.
OAITW r.2.0
(30,753 posts)Farmers. like societies in general, are not a solid block, voting wise. If anything, they are understanding the world interconnectedness better than most people.
I think you may have replied to the wrong person.
paleotn
(21,031 posts)They'll have to subsidized year and year. But that does nothing to alleviate food inflation. Like it or not, the pre-Donnie farm labor system is behind the relatively low prices Americans see in the produce section of your local grocery. The harvest of many fruits and vegetables cannot be automated. Most Americans being separated from those facts in no way changes the mathematics.
Cirsium
(3,033 posts)Agriculture in the US has been subsidized for a long time in various ways - the Farm Credit program, Cooperative Extension, the Land Grant college system, farm Service agencies, the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the state and federal departments of agriculture, public health and safety agencies, soil and water conservation districts, etc.
The purpose of those programs is to benefit the general public, and that is most certainly the case. It is the eaters who are "bailed out" not the growers.
popsdenver
(651 posts)look no further than the Soy Bean Farmers during the First Occupation of Trump in the White House.....and it is happening all over again, including the Soybean farmers this time around..............
The MAGAots never learn..........
Blues Heron
(7,843 posts)paleotn
(21,031 posts)But these same Florida farmers voted to screw themselves. For them I have no pity. Off to bankruptcy and ruin with ya!!
Buddyzbuddy
(1,694 posts)They prodded the American farmers with the promise of cheap labor. It was so insidious. They invaded the country by whatever means necessary carrying their children as though they were flak jackets and camping out on our beautiful lands as though they were on vacation.
Well that's enough. They are done living on this gravy train. We're on to them.
Please sir, we voted for you, will you help us? Whatever it costs. Even if it means we lose our crops, our livelihood, our farms. Remove this scourge.
The soul sucking, racist mind of MAGA. The real scourge of America. Thank a Republican. Thank an "Independent". Thank a non voting "Democrat."
Oh, BTW, for those that may not get it,
This is 
. Not intended as humor but pointedly ironic stupidity on their behalf.
CaptainTruth
(7,922 posts)
GoodRaisin
(10,584 posts)travelingthrulife
(3,536 posts)But you showed those liberals, huh?
kimbutgar
(26,247 posts) littlemissmartypants
(30,186 posts)Edible it will likely cost much more. The billionaires won't bat an eye.
RedWhiteBlueIsRacist
(1,280 posts)
Emile
(38,312 posts)littlemissmartypants
(30,186 posts)
flashman13
(1,651 posts)
mwmisses4289
(2,440 posts)They could offer so much per pound, and people will come and pick their own. One of my favorite memories of living in the the PNW was the u-pick farms for everything from blueberries to raspberries.
Then the farmers might make a bit and save some of their crop.
But I guess u- pick farms are a "dam libtard" idea, and maga farmers won't do it?
allegorical oracle
(5,820 posts)equipment was included, so they started planting. First, they opened a produce stand with a handful of crops. Crowds swarmed in. Next, their first big crop of about five acres of strawberries ripened, so they hung a U-Pick sign out on the highway. Mobs of people were parking and walking everywhere -- it disrupted traffic.
This summer, U-pick wild flowers and huge sunflowers popped up in the strawberry field. Dozens of people with their kids were out in the fresh air picking flowers.
It's been a raging success. Since summer, they installed a ferris wheel -- and this Fall have constructed an adorable Halloween house made of pumpkins in the midst of a small pumpkin patch. Would estimate at least 100 cars were parked in their new parking lot when I passed it last weekend.
Amazing how clever some energetic people are.
3auld6phart
(1,644 posts)That is tough shit…… Drumpfh still has our votes for 2026 plus ay other Republicans that is against black and brown folks
JustAnotherGen
(37,262 posts)
BattleRow
(1,919 posts)That would truly be earning their keep,since tax payers are footing the bills already.
taxi
(2,579 posts)This may answer your question.
Indentured servitude was popular in the United States in the 1600s as many European immigrants worked in exchange for the price of passage to America. Today, indentured servitude is illegal in the U.S. and banned in nearly all countries.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/indentured-servitude.asp
BattleRow
(1,919 posts)taxi
(2,579 posts)Certainly not the government.
And who supports releasing criminals into the general public?
BattleRow
(1,919 posts)I have no problem seeing convicted criminals make an effort to pay THEIR debt to society.
When are convicted politicians going to begin paying theirs?
taxi
(2,579 posts)Case 1. A court sentences an offender with either a fine or time in jail.
Case 2. Others in prison or jail are there because they are considered to be a risk to the public.
In Case 1 the sentenced offender is forced into labor. Like a slave.
In Case 2 the prisoners will have to be supervised. Either they are supervised by correctional officers or they are not. A person advocating for supervision by publicly paid corrections officers is asking for socialism in government, in effect a socialist. If that person is advocating for supervision by other-than-publicly paid correction officers, then that person is supporting slavery.
BattleRow
(1,919 posts)It is self sustaining..
However, the inmates do not work off facility to the best of my knowledge.
Incidentally, would it be beyond the realm of possibility that some inmates would WANT to get out and do some constructive labor to perhaps reduce their sentences?
taxi
(2,579 posts)And it is entirely within the realm of possibility that inmates have all sorts of wants and ideas of what they can do. But this really isn't about what the inmates want, is it? American farmers voted for office holders who promised to remove immigrants from their communities. Those office holders were more than happy to find a problem for their solutions.
BattleRow
(1,919 posts)Volunteer victims and acquiescent accomplices.
Hate and fear are the coin of their realm.
taxi
(2,579 posts)
BattleRow
(1,919 posts)Last edited Mon Oct 13, 2025, 05:20 PM - Edit history (1)
cloudbase
(6,080 posts)"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States".
taxi
(2,579 posts)Sadly troglodytes still exist in Republican form.
https://www.naacpldf.org/13th-amendment-emancipation/
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to prohibit the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as a punishment for a crime.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States:...
Following the end of the Jim Crow era, the War on Drugs fueled mass incarceration by disproportionately filling America’s prisons with Black Americans (Black men, in particular) and enforcing racial control through the criminal justice system. This resulted in a redesign of America’s racial caste system that nominally adhered to the principle of colorblindness following the fall of Jim Crow. Indeed, author and civil rights litigator Michelle Alexander has described this phenomenon as “the New Jim Crow.”
These are not just dark legacies of the past, however. Today, there are still incarcerated Black Americans picking crops on plantations across the country. Regardless of whether it’s through agricultural work or otherwise, the prison labor system creates a lack of control over one’s labor and freedom — particularly for Black people. It’s no surprise, then, to find that in some states, incarcerated workers are not paid at all.
]https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/21/text?r=3&s=1
Quanta
(251 posts)It won't make much difference in the long run, and it's a shitty position to be in. They FAFOd and now we're all paying the price. To help balance the karma they should put out a notice that anybody can come and pick all they want BEFORE they plow the field. That require compassion and empathy for others though, and that is in short supply these days.
awesomerwb1
(4,903 posts)
Deep State Witch
(12,322 posts)What happened to those able-bodied Americans that had their jobs taken away from them by illegal immigrants? Why aren't they flocking to help pick tomatoes in the Florida heat? Surely Florida Man can pick tomatoes better than any "illegal"!
Enjoy the leopards eating your faces, assholes.
nitpicked
(1,408 posts)In high school, physical education requirements vary widely.
As examples, Iowa requires four years of physical education while DC requires only a half-credit.
That's just the start.
(So much for the idea of having students do community service in the fields.)
Once people graduate from high school, IMO computers are emphasized, not physical fitness.
Deep State Witch
(12,322 posts)Forgot the
Exp
(631 posts)
Buns_of_Fire
(18,837 posts)
progressoid
(52,157 posts)
UTUSN
(76,057 posts)
Walleye
(42,820 posts)
ProudMNDemocrat
(20,334 posts)They fucked around and are finding out that Trump DOES NOT care about them at all.
Raven123
(7,160 posts)If they can clean parks, they can pick produce.
NOT SERIOUS. Just noting the absurdity. We have an administration that will use tax payer money to execute it’s hate filled agenda by assigning the Guard to park maintenance while denying others a chance to work and support their families, and as a bonus reducing the food supply. Lose, lose, lose.
Champp
(2,310 posts)and making us pay for billionaire who like to golf
Some super sick shit
LetMyPeopleVote
(171,455 posts)The president is already lying about his record on grocery prices. But his administration expects his anti-immigrant agenda to make matters worse.
Trump administration eyes higher food prices as a result of the immigration crackdown www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
— Tabby (@tabbys-corner.bsky.social) 2025-10-13T20:37:07.739Z
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-administration-eyes-higher-food-prices-result-immigration-crackd-rcna237379
The Trump administration said that its immigration crackdown is hurting farmers and risking higher food prices for Americans by cutting off agriculture’s labor supply. The Labor Department warned in an obscure document filed with the Federal Register last week that ‘the near total cessation of the inflow of illegal aliens’ is threatening ‘the stability of domestic food production and prices for U.S. consumers.’
According to the Labor Department’s assessment, which was first reported by The American Prospect, the administration needs to act “immediately” to prevent the problem from getting worse.
......In other words, the president who claimed that he won a second term based on food prices, and who vowed to bring consumer costs at grocery stores “way down,” is already lying about his recent record. But making matters even worse is the fact that his own administration expects the problem to get worse, as food production slows as a result of the White House’s campaign against immigrants, which is likely to reduce supply, pushing prices up.
At that point, Trump will have to choose between competing campaign promises: Will he let immigrants stay and help stabilize food costs, or will he deport these workers and risk the fury of consumers who’ll see prices at their local grocery store climb?
Initech
(106,552 posts)Excuse me while I go find the world's smallest violin! Fuck Trump! 
BidenRocks
(2,383 posts)Plow it rather than donate.
Trumpism at it's finest!
B.See
(7,020 posts)
JCMach1
(29,011 posts)People need food.
LetMyPeopleVote
(171,455 posts)It is US consumers who are paying tariffs.
Link to tweet
According to the bombshell analysis, U.S. consumers are already paying 55% of the tariff costs just six months into their implementation. Trump and his minions have repeatedly claimed, despite pushback from economic experts, that other countries would simply "eat" the tariffs. We now see beyond a shadow of a doubt that that is not the case.
Since April when Trump first announced his harebrained tariffs, consumer prices have steadily increased every month, eating into the wages and savings of American workers via inflation. As if that weren't bad enough, some companies may have been using pre-tariff inventories to keep prices artificially low. As those stockpiles run out, they'll be forced to raise prices to offset the tariffs.
Goldman Sachs also predicted that costs will likely rise even higher now that Trump is considering another wave of disastrous tariffs. True to ignorant form, he refuses to look at the effects of his policies or to reconsider his prior economic assumptions. There is no scenario in which this man admits that he was wrong.
The analysis estimates that the Trump tariffs have added a whopping 0.44% to the Fed's preferred inflation measure, a staggering increase when considered in the total scope of the U.S. economy. Hard working Americans are getting hammered. If Trump follows through on threats to tariff furniture and kitchen products, that number could rise to 0.6%. If that happens, consumers will bear 70% of the tariffs' cost.