You Were Stupid. Will You Still Be Stupid in 2020?

[Wyrd of Gawd]

There are millions of people in prisons.  The State could use them as slaves to do farm work.  And when they need more they simply lock more people up for assorted crimes.

You could have just said, “Well shit, Min.  I was wrong.”

Please keep up with current events in America =

"A Disturbing Trend in Agriculture: Prisoner-Picked Vegetables

Some states are turning to their prisons to make up for farmworker shortages.
APR 14, 2014· 
 
Late last fall, Idaho state Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston, stood in an unpicked orchard. The trees were heavy with apples, some rotting on the ground around her. The window of time to harvest was over. “The apples were just hanging frozen on the tree, a whole orchard, because they couldn’t get anybody to pick them,” said Lodge. “I wish I had taken a picture.”

But Lodge isn’t a photographer; she’s a legislator. So instead, she sponsored a bill in the spring 2014 legislative session that she believes will prevent future harvests from going to waste. S.B. 1374, which was signed into law by Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter on March 26, will enable private employers to hire state prisoners for agricultural labor."

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/04/...-ag-labor/

"US farmers using prison labor

With tightening restrictions on migrant workers, some farmers are turning to the incarcerated.

In Arizona, inmates have been working for private agriculture businesses for almost 20 years."
https://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0822/p14s02-wmgn.html

"Constitution of United States of America 1789 (rev. 1992)
Section 1
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, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

[LadyForCamus]

You could have just said, “Well shit, Min.  I was wrong.”

Please keep up with current events in America =

"A Disturbing Trend in Agriculture: Prisoner-Picked Vegetables

Some states are turning to their prisons to make up for farmworker shortages.
APR 14, 2014· 
 
Late last fall, Idaho state Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston, stood in an unpicked orchard. The trees were heavy with apples, some rotting on the ground around her. The window of time to harvest was over. “The apples were just hanging frozen on the tree, a whole orchard, because they couldn’t get anybody to pick them,” said Lodge. “I wish I had taken a picture.”

But Lodge isn’t a photographer; she’s a legislator. So instead, she sponsored a bill in the spring 2014 legislative session that she believes will prevent future harvests from going to waste. S.B. 1374, which was signed into law by Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter on March 26, will enable private employers to hire state prisoners for agricultural labor."

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/04/...-ag-labor/

"US farmers using prison labor

With tightening restrictions on migrant workers, some farmers are turning to the incarcerated.

In Arizona, inmates have been working for private agriculture businesses for almost 20 years."
https://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0822/p14s02-wmgn.html

"Constitution of United States of America 1789 (rev. 1992)
Section 1
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, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

Not what I was talking about, but do go on with your red herring.

[Divinity]

Don't blame me, I voted for Hillary.

Honestly maybe it's time for Bluexit. Let the blue states have their country, and let the Red States burn.

[Rev. Rye]

If the farms were in the cities they could attract more workers.

If they were in the cities, they probably wouldn't even be much in the way of farms, would they?

There's only so much an indoor or rooftop garden can produce, and I highly doubt it's going to make people anything resembling a decent living, except maybe if they manage to jack up the prices and people become willing to pay extra for something for the novelty of like, I dunno, a fully formed ear of corn grown in some guy's basement. Or if a major crop failure forces prices so high that it becomes a viable option, but, if the French Revolution is any indication, things are likely to get really politically unstable before we reach that point.

[Amarok]

There is this odd thing with many left wing people, where they are against sending jobs overseas, but fine with illegals coming and doing them here. It seems contradictory to me.

No it's not .

[Rev. Rye]

There is this odd thing with many left wing people, where they are against sending jobs overseas, but fine with illegals coming and doing them here. It seems contradictory to me.

No it's not .

More. Jobs. Here. So. People. Can. Live. It's. That. Fucking. Simple.

The problem with sending jobs overseas is that the bosses are creating a massive wave of unemployment in the hopes of some short-term profit, eventually leading to a bunch of pissed-off people, some of whom may actually know what's going on, some eventually voting in Trump because somehow the personification of the sort of mentality that really took their jobs will somehow make things better for them. Immigrants (and no, I won't specify whether they're illegal or not because A: it's not that relevant to my point, and B: Because if you and the Republican Party had their way, there probably wouldn't even BE any legal immigrants, and the process of immigrating legally is getting much and much harder every year), meanwhile, come of their own accord to do their work so they and their families don't fucking starve to death. Did you know that in Mexico, half of the population lives on about $5 a day? America's minimum wage laws require employers to pay more than that per hour.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

If the farms were in the cities they could attract more workers.

If they were in the cities, they probably wouldn't even be much in the way of farms, would they?

There's only so much an indoor or rooftop garden can produce, and I highly doubt it's going to make people anything resembling a decent living, except maybe if they manage to jack up the prices and people become willing to pay extra for something for the novelty of like, I dunno, a fully formed ear of corn grown in some guy's basement. Or if a major crop failure forces prices so high that it becomes a viable option, but, if the French Revolution is any indication, things are likely to get really politically unstable before we reach that point.

If you live in a metropolitan area how close is the nearest farm to you?  Would you do a daily commute to it every day to do farm work for low pay?

[Rev. Rye]

If they were in the cities, they probably wouldn't even be much in the way of farms, would they?

There's only so much an indoor or rooftop garden can produce, and I highly doubt it's going to make people anything resembling a decent living, except maybe if they manage to jack up the prices and people become willing to pay extra for something for the novelty of like, I dunno, a fully formed ear of corn grown in some guy's basement. Or if a major crop failure forces prices so high that it becomes a viable option, but, if the French Revolution is any indication, things are likely to get really politically unstable before we reach that point.

If you live in a metropolitan area how close is the nearest farm to you?  Would you do a daily commute to it every day to do farm work for low pay?

I live in the Chicagoland area, and the nearest farm is probably a county away. No, I don’t think I’d like to do a commute that far every day even if I was being paid handsomely. Then again, it’s not like this is a problem that can be solved as easily as you seem to suggest. That was my whole fucking point, you bowl of monkeyspank.

[The Grand Nudger]

The primary reason to hire migrant labor..in ag... is skill, not cost.  Migrant haters need to learn a fuckin trade, lol.


Personally...I used to commute two hours a day to farm.  Factoring in the length of the days and cost of travel I think I was making something like $8 bucks an hour, lol....-but- I love it and we were building the sort of operation you're all going to be familiar with, in cities, in coming years.  All those big box retailers that are getting pushed out leave an amazing piece of land behind them for integrated hydro.  It's right in the middle of the market with massive frontage and parking, and the infrastructure is already set up.

In chicago, for example..theres a millionaire waiting to happen with RAS trout/tilapia, prawn and marine shrimp in a combo dwc/vert facility. In a one acre parking lot, you can grow a simulated 8 acres of strawberries - 100k lbs, and @ 2.5/7tons of fresh.. as in never frozen, seafood. It;s the establishment cost, not the productivity..that;s the issue. Quarter mil for the hydro if it;s facility based, another 150k ish for the ras*. That;s just to set it up (and if you did it yourself instead of hiring some asshole like me to do it), operating cost would be near 200k yearly. Could tilt it towards the RAS and produce many times as much seafood if you run yuppie chow in a biofloc system. The average (successful) integrated system goes black in 2 to 3 years despite upfront costs approaching 1mil in the first year.

The only real limitation in the urban setting is phosporus disharge regulation into muncipal water - and it;s usually not an issue (not an issue at all with trout and strawberries). The city rarely cares about it;s residents and favors high taxpayers. That and the purchasing agreements @ the fuckin kroger.....;(

*People have done it a hell of alot cheaper..buyt it;s usually one or some combo of sweetheart deals, redneck macguyver setups, and subpar control systems. Guys who, for example, trickle water through a 55gal drum filled with netting rather than pay 8kUSD per 20m3/water for bioreactive mechanical filtration.

[Jehanne]

I live in Iowa and I am counting the days until the state economy tanks. Iowa exports over 80% of our food, a lot of which goes to China.