The Food Must Rot

The latest news from the farm front (seen via The Brothers Judd):

WOODLAND --- A third of Jerry Dobbins' 155-acre strawberry crop rotted on the vine this year. His blueberry bushes are so heavy with fruit that the branches are hanging near the ground.

There is no one to pick them.

Dobbins Farm in Woodland is one of many farms across the state facing a huge labor shortage this growing season, as tighter security along the U.S.-Mexico border has crimped the supply of Latino migrant farm workers.

I'm reminded of a famous quote from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck:

And coroners must fill in the certificates—died of malnutrition—because the food must rot, must be forced to rot.

The fruit probably could be picked by “Americans” but in that case there would be fewer Americans available for other jobs. Those other jobs might include designing the robots that John Derbyshire is so fond of.