The NYT ran an article that reports on U.S. farmers who have begun to operate in Mexico because they can no longer get an adequate supply of immigrant workers. The article implies that this movement is good for Mexico but bad for the United States It is not clear why this would be the case. If the farmers no longer operate their farms, then presumably the land will be used for other purposes that are more valuable than its use as farm land. For example, in a region with very high house prices, some of this land may be used for residential housing. The article should have discussed what is happening to the abandoned farm land. The article also includes an assertion from one of the farmers that he could not get native born workers regardless of how much he paid. This is not true and it would have been appropriate to note this fact. The farmer is simply unwilling to pay the market rate for farmworkers. If he paid his farmworkers as much as doctors or lawyers, he would have no shortage of farmworkers. The market rate is determined by the wage that is necessary to attract workers.
--Dean Baker
