Illegal Migrant Workers

on a Lemon Orchard

 
 
 

Vocabulary

 

pick	season (2)	know/knew/known
citrus	capital (2)	lose/lost/lost
decade	consumer	find/found/found
owner	rot away	race against time
race (2)	rot, rotten	fall/fell/fallen
rot	for sure	see/saw/seen
crew	compete	get/got/got
in time	rotation	requirement
labor	boom (2)	come/came/come
kind (2)	square (3)	do/did/done
border	rot away	heightened
visa (2)	available	bureaucracy
tear (2)	come back	cut/cut/cut (2)
across	mean (3)	give/gave/given
field (2)	revenue	frustration
across	workforce	year-round
bureau	shortage	begin/began/begun
affect	yield (2)	produce (2)
as well	matter (2)	eat/ate/eaten
harvest	change (2)	demographic
ground	heart (2)	recruitment
security	continue	compound (2)
reform	complex	put/put/put
soul	no longer	construction
	over time	livelihood

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

It’s the end of the lemon picking season here, in what’s known as the citrus capital of the world.

But farms in Santa Paula are losing money because they can’t find enough workers to pick the produce. This lemon farm has more than four square kilometers of land in California and Arizona.

For its owners this has become a race against time: pick the fruit before it falls or watch it rot away.

Journalist: “There’s a lot of frustration here?”
Alex Teague, Limonneira Farms: “For sure. Yeah. And as we walk through here, you can see here with the fruit on the ground.

That this is a real example of us not being able to get the rotation of the crews to come back around in time. And when we look at the fruit on the ground, we see basically a lot of tears on the ground.”

This is labor mostly done by Mexican immigrants. Farmers say many Americans don’t want this kind of work. And a decade of heightened border security and visa bureaucracy has cut into immigrant recruitment.

Carlos Gutierrez, Farm Worker: “It’s very difficult. Very difficult. They don’t give visas to anybody. There are SOOO many requirements for somebody coming here to get a visa.”

That’s part of the problem. But a booming economy in Mexico also means many people there just don’t want to work in the US anymore.

But it’s not just here in California — farmers across the United States say it’s been a problem for a while: entire fields left to rot and millions of dollars of lost revenue. And that’s year-round.

Will Terry, American Farm Bureau: “The next two weeks we’ll start harvesting here, and we won’t stop for about three months.”

Pepper season is just beginning. But the labor shortage is about more than farm yields; it could affect what consumers eat as well.

Will Terry, American Farm Bureau: “It really doesn’t matter where you are in the country — this is affecting everybody. We have demographics changing in Mexico: smaller families means less available people for our workforce. And construction companies compete for the same workforce that we do.

And this is something that’s going to continue to compound itself over time. And you’re gonna see less and less fresh products.”

The government is looking at reform, but the problem is complex.

Farmers put their hearts and souls into this industry and many of them say they can no longer afford to watch their livelihoods rot away on the ground.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

 

Questions

Lemon, Lime. Spain grows and produces the most lemons in the world. True or false?

Apple. Is the main problem for the farmers in the video drought, floods, insects or plant diseases?

Orange, Tangerine. “We see basically a lot of tears on the ground.” What does this mean?

Banana. American are very motivated, enthusiastic and energetic about harvesting crops. Is this right or wrong?

Cherry. Is it quick and easy for Mexicans and other foreigners to come and work in the United States?

Strawberry. Is everyone in Mexico desperate to come to the US and pick fruits and harvest vegetables?

Kiwi Fruit. The US government is eager to streamline immigration and will do so quickly. Is this correct or incorrect?
 
 
 
Avocado. There are (many) undocumented immigrants in my city and country. Yes or no? If yes, who are they? Where are they from? What do they do?

Pear. Do (many) people from your nation live and work abroad (illegally)?

Peach, Nectarine, Apricot. Why do migrants live and work in other countries? Why do employers employ them?

Raspberry, Blueberry, Blackberry. Do (illegal) immigrants form an integral part of the economy and people’s daily lives? What would happen if (all) illegal workers were deported?

Grapes. Is there a lot of controversy, debate and arguments regarding undocumented migration and immigration in general?

Pineapple. What might happen in the future?

Watermelons, Melons. What should governments, migrants and their employers do?