California politicians in their infinite liberal wisdom have just banned hand weeding on

California’s non-“organic” farms – the vast majority. Agriculture is one of California’s

top industries, supporting over one million jobs and contributing about $28 billion to the

economy.

Those crops to which technology has not yet been able to provide automated weeding,

including lettuce, carrots, celery and strawberries, no longer may be weeded by hand. I

guess we want to ensure the increase of wealth in those countries and states that provide

the same produce we provide currently, but will not be able to provide competitively after

this rule is implemented, and ensure the decrease in wealth in California.

The organic farm waiver gives away the politics. Organic farms have been proven to

transmit more disease and to provide produce less efficiently. Once you couple those with

higher prices for hippies and trendies, you have a far lower degree of efficiency for

producers.

Organics were exempted because they have more weeds due to not using chemicals.

As a representative of the Western Growers Association stated, “The same kind of crops

we have here are grown in other nations, other states. The crops aren’t unique to

California… [yet] we’re going to be the only place on the face of the Earth that has a

regulation or law that outlaws hand-weeding.”

Is this an effort to help the third world compete by lowering our ability to be efficient?

It's pretty clear that one of two things has just happened here: Either the wages of the

third worlders staying in the third world have been decided to be more important than the

wages of the workers in the California agriculture industry, including the secondary

services markets supported by those workers, or, the Luddites have won in the CA ag

sector.

Some questions naturally arise:

1. Does the exemption for “organic” farms mean that workers toiling there are not

worthy of protection?

2. Does the exemption for “organic” farms mean CA wants to increase “organic”

produce as a percent of all produce, hence consumer costs, making it even harder

for all workers to feed their families?

3. Will this further drive up the costs of “organic” farms as pay increases to supply

labor to what will become a seller’s market?

4. As smaller non-organics go under due to the increase in costs of implementing

this rule, what will happen to those farmers and their families? To those supplying

them services, from groceries to gasoline to clothing to cars?

5. Is this an anti-family farm agenda? An anti-small-town agenda?An anti-organics

agenda?

6. Will it drive down the costs of non-organics by allowing those farmers to pay

their crews less as it becomes a buyer’s market for these services, rather than the

seller’s market for organic farms?

7. By how much, and how quickly, will the earning of the workers in non-organic

farms decrease? How will that affect their ability to provide for their families?

8. Will the need for illegal alien farm workers decline with these laws limiting the

backbreaking labor they provide - putting out of work many already here and

providing fewer jobs for those still coming?

9. If the unforeseen consequence is to throw out of work tens of thousands of farm

workers, will that be better for them and their families than the work they perform

voluntarily now?

10. When this legislation results in a decrease of available jobs for farm workers –

what will be the political fallout of the decision, especially on the liberal CA

legislature? To raise taxes to put them all on welfare?

11. How long until the increase in costs drives affordable automation, killing the rest

of the low-skilled agriculture jobs in the state?

12. Is this an anti-illegal alien agenda from the Left?