As someone who farmed for the first couple of decades of my life - no. We need to utilize drones for farming and ban the use of tires and fossil fuels (which deposit heavy metals) on fields.
Also pretty sure glyphosate/Roundup caused health issues for everyone I know and myself (all farmers/in farm communities). It's a neurotoxin and is in the entire Ogallala acquifer and most ground water around farms and their watershed. I spoke with a lead state toxicologist in the PNW about this. It verifiably has effects on fish and insects in the watershed here (which Monsanto claims is too diluted to have effects).
I mean a national labor corps with incentivized participation isn't the worst idea. Gives people the opportunity to get work experience without necessarily having to understand their career direction in life.
Shouldn't be a draft in any circumstances but absolute crisis situation, like essential infrastructure is on the brink of total collapse and regular pay incentives aren't getting bodies on it fast enough.
Who knows, might get some people into work they didn't realize they'd gel with, plenty of inspector positions are behind work load and I've got s feeling a part of that is just people not knowing the work is out there.
So there was a reduction of family-operators farming between 1950 and 1990; by 74%. Of course, the number of hired workers has risen. On the surface that makes sense. I would imagine that farms hire illegal immigrants so that they can pay them less than the minimum visa-required pay (which is slightly more than minimum wage); probably also do not provide much in the way of benefits or vacation either. That’s my hunch.
But if i were a young man, and i went through college, and was struggling finding a career in my field and facing the student debt i no-doubt accrued during college, i sure as shit wouldn’t want to spend any amount of time doing indentured servitude. If i did, I’d voluntarily join the Peace Corps or something.
The person that wrote that is like 31 years old last week
and
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
Yeah no, I would die. I can't operate a lawnmower without crippling myself for a good couple of days with allergies, insects will go out of their way to sting/bite me instead of anyone else, and I am too pale to be outside for long periods of time without blistering. Stick me in a factory instead.
Sure, but only if all Americans have to work for, and live on, one year of service industry work - like waiting tables, checking out customers, or serving fast food. Especially the rich ones.
You know, it might not be a bad idea, because once regular people realize agriculture is exempt from minimum pay laws and OSHA, they might demand change
Or just make it a function of the military. A crop corps, if you will. We already have the Army Corps of Engineers. This would be just another civil function.
After all, food independence from other states, and ensuring the security of logistics supply like food, are an important part of any military strategy.
I actually think this is brilliant. Most Americans have no knowledge or personal connection as to where their food comes from and what goes into producing it. The ag sector is also, sadly, rife with worker abuse, farmers commit suicide at way higher rates than the general population, and our food system is getting increasingly industrialized and specialized, with small farms getting gobbled up by megacorps. But because agriculture usually happens away from population centers (sometimes far away) there's not a lot of public awareness (or sympathy) of issues. Meanwhile soil depletion and unsustainable practices are setting the US up for all kinds of potential future disasters (second dust bowl, anyone?), and that's before you factor in climate change.
So yes, let's have all Americans get even a few months of experience with our food system!
I remember hearing that there was a similar concept in Soviet Union at some point, when normal citizens worked collecting fruits or something like that.
Wait, I've seen this one before. Didn't they already try forced farm labor? I think there may have been a war with this issue as a driving force in the conflict.