by Zoë Pollock
About two months ago, Georgia enacted a law intended to push illegal immigrants out of the state. It caused an immediate labor shortage, and farmers "have been forced to leave millions of dollars' worth of blueberries, onions, melons and other crops unharvested and rotting in the fields." McArdle tips her hat to a generation of immigrants who know how to pick our fruit:
The illegal immigrants who harvest our crops have grown up doing this, learning the way my grandparents did. There are almost no Americans left who have either the painfully developed musculature or the painstakingly acquired knowledge to rapidly harvest a field without damaging the crop. And acquiring those skills is tricky, because the picking season for any one crop is very short . . . after which, it's time to start picking another crop that you don't know how to handle.
The Dish 