A guest on the constitutional

 

Yesterday Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins stated (in regards to undocumented farm workers):  "The mass deportations will continue, but in a strategic way.  And we move the workforce toward automation and 100% American participation, which with 34 million able-bodied on Medicaid we should be able to do fairly quickly."  Like many statements from current government officials it's a bit maniacal and, should it not go over well in the public forum,  the speaker will insist that that's not what they meant.  That said, I believe the secretary is indicating that any gaps in the agricultural workforce caused by removing undocumented aliens can be quickly filled by Medicaid recipients.   There are problems with the secretaries'  number of 'able-bodied Medicare recipients' and even in the government's definition of 'able-bodied'.  However, let's pretend she knows what she's talking about and go w/ her premise.  There are still issues w/ her plan that need to be worked out.

1) Most Medicare recipients don't live near farms.  Not a problem.  The ICE squads that corralled and shipped off the former farm workers can be utilized to round up and move Medicare recipients (and if necessary their families) to the farms.  If there isn't sufficient accommodations for them, the government can quickly set up temporary housing as they did for detainees in the Everglades.  

2)  Ag jobs require training.   That could be a problem.  After a few unskilled people are killed by a tractor rolling over them or lose limbs while operating harvesting equipment or get crushed by a 1000 lb animal those pesky news reporters will have a field day (so to speak).  Probably best to get out ahead of any bad press by publicly denigrating Medicare recipients as lazy, worthless, leaches on society.  It will make it sound like any harm that befalls them is their own fault.

3)  Medicare recipients may not want to do farm work.  While I love milking cows, not everyone can tolerate being hit in the face w/ a dirty tail.  The truth is I haven't heard of any farmer w/ a waiting list of people looking for field/barn jobs.   It may be necessary to find ways to motivate this new workforce.  A little starvation will make them more willing.

I still haven't addressed one part of the secretary's plan: Automation.  Automation is critical in making it possible to do more work, faster, and w/ less people ... but it is expensive.  To push automation without breaking a farmer's budget will require government monetary incentives and it will take time to implement them.  Plus some farm tasks currently have no way to be automated (picking berries comes to mind).  Did the secretary confuse the real thing w/ a Minecraft farm and plans on AI doing the jobs?

I hope Secretary Rollins shares her other ideas.   (I'm always up for a good laugh.)