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A comment on People are planting more vegetable gardens. Parent comment

Re:People are planting more vegetable gardens by aresant on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @03:58PM (#22741805)
With 30% of the US economy out of work and the gov't prioritizing business vs. consumer handouts I would argue the inverse.

80% of people that get COVID have a mild case.(1)

Mild / average cases of COVID run ~2 weeks beginning to end.

Farming, food production, and grocery is NOT going to close down.

The available labor pool has massively expanded and without paycheck or stimulus coming lots of Americans playing 1-rung above farm labor are going to fill any void in the migrant labor pool.

(1) https://www.webmd.com/lung/covid-recovery-overview#1

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Re:People are planting more vegetable gardens by 01100011 on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @04:12PM (#22741970)
That doesn't take into account fear and the need to care for family. If, for instance, Mexico gets hit hard by COVID, you might see an effect on US agricultural labor supply as people return home to care for family or attend funerals. There is a fear factor as well. In China, I remember reading people were simply refusing to show up for work.

> Americans playing 1-rung above farm labor are going to fill any void in the migrant labor pool.

Has this ever happened in modern times? I can see Americans filling voids in the construction and service industries, but farm labor is pretty hard work and doesn't pay well. Will Americans take a farm job when they can sit idle and collect enhanced unemployment benefits?

Keep in mind that farm workers generally don't have quality health care, and will likely fare worse as a population than an averaged sample of cases.

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Re:People are planting more vegetable gardens by pmoriarty on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @06:29PM (#22743430)
"In China, I remember reading people were simply refusing to show up for work."

This might be what happens with people who can afford to live off their savings or state support while out of work, but many won't be so fortunate.

Here's a more likely scenario for many of the seasonal workers who supply our food:

I soon spotted a group of men huddled in a corner...

I stopped and asked them, from a safe distance, if they were following the lockdown.

Ramesh Kumar, who comes from Banda district in Uttar Pradesh state, said that he knew "there won't be anybody to hire us, but we still took our chances".

"I earn 600 rupees ($8; £6.50) every day and I have five people to feed. We will run out of food in a few days. I know the risk of coronavirus, but I can't see my children hungry," he said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52002734

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