I will start my first blog post with what is closest to my heart - farming. My grandfather came from Sicily and started the farm in 1921. My father - the oldest of 13 children - and his 5 brothers started working on the farm at a very young age. I was 10 when I started packing fruit. I remember when the fruit was in season we worked from 7 in the morning till 10 at night. My father worked 16-17 hour days every day from June thru October - supervising picking the fruit, packing the fruit and going to market an hour away twice a day.
How can the politicians in Washington know anything about the daily running of a family owned farm? The workers - all the workers, including family - have to work when the fruit needs to come off the trees, get packed and sent to markets. In the winter when it is quieter, then we can take life a little easier.
The politicians think it would be a good idea to pay overtime for over every 8 hours worked every day. If this were to happen for the 5-6 busy months, most farmers could not afford to stay in business. Each year is an economic unknown, as farmers are at the mercy of weather conditions - if it gets too cold the fruit freezes, if hail and winds hit the fruit gets damaged. Do we really want to jeopardize America with costly political burdens that might put farmers out of business? Do we really want to import our produce from China?
Washington--Leave the farmers alone with intrusive and unnecessary regulations!!
