Georgia's tough new immigration laws may have worked too well, says Megan McArdle in The Atlantic: After no undocumented migrant workers showed up for the harvest, Georgia farmers left millions of dollars worth of fruits and vegetables rotting in the fields. Some economists have even pointed out that if the farmers had to hire legal pickers, they'd go bankrupt. But almost everyone is "wildly underestimating what's involved in becoming a skilled picker," McArdle says. If the U.S. actually seals off our southern border, "we will see a lot more ruined crops." Here's an excerpt:
Most fruits and vegetables require surprisingly skilled handling (which is why they still use pickers, instead of machines). Bad picking can easily destroy the profit margin on your crop, costing you more than you gain....
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