MIGRANT LABOR

Does anybody know when it was that “migrant farm laborer” became “guest worker”? Oh, never mind. I doubt there’s anything legislative or judicial about it. Probably no more than an exercise in political correctness. Anyway, considering all the heartache and financial disruption brought about by the Corona Virus, I’m glad to see shreds of common sense being applied to various elements of this very complicated disaster. Chief among those common sense applications as I sat down to contemplate this particular column, was the headline the other day in the publication,

Morning Agriculture – Politico

, about the Department of Homeland Security announcement that farmers can employ guest workers in the U.S. That, in and of itself isn’t news. We’ve had guest workers since they were identified as migrants, or migrant workers, going back at least until the 1930s and the dust bowl years. Homeland Security made that announcement the other day, in an attempt to prevent travel disruptions from delaying foreign workers from entering the country. I assume you’d have to be a specialty crops producer, like those in California, or right here in Southwest Michigan, in the greenhouse industry or in the raising of fruits and vegetables along Lake Michigan, to comprehend the urgency of the migrant worker story. It is there, as with most farm crops, specialty or regular – – when the planting season arrives, it’s here, and it won’t stand still – you must plant. Later on, timing will become even more critical, as the ripened crop must be harvested – NOW! Somebody in Washington seems to be paying attention to something other than when the neighborhood hotdog stand can reopen, because Homeland Security will also allow those workers here under the federal H2a visas, to stay here in this country beyond the normal 3-year limit, without penalty. That is obviously an effort to save the system from becoming gummed up at a critical time for the regular flow of travel for those migrants, (migrant workers, guest workers)- whatever.


I’m going to assume the system needs polish – maybe something even more than that. But it just has to be better than that other migrant farm labor story that author John Steinbeck called “The Grapes of Wrath”. It was not an uncontrolled disease that ravaged the country back in the 1930s, but for some, at least, it was every bit as much of a disruption of life, liberty, and most of all the pursuit of happiness. The migrants, as Steinbeck told it were forced out of the Great Plains states – Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Texas, basically, by the Dust Bowl. Cropland virtually destroyed by a combination of bad farming habits, and lousy weather without rain, sent people packing and moving. Unlike the migrants of today, those fleeing the dustbowl of the ‘30s, were not welcomed in California.