Farmers in the west must have the same PR people as Air America which, as you’ll recall, recently got the New York Times to publish a major puff piece on the ailing radio network instead of covering its myriad legal problems. Well, today’s Washington Post contains what can only have been a press release from the Western Growers Association. The article is essentially a series of quotes from farmers and their lobbyists on how they can’t find enough servile labor to work on their plantations, and demanding that Congress procure a work force for them. The only dissent is a couple of sentences from the United Farm Workers, whining about low wages but supporting the farmers’ call for an amnesty and guestworker program — a typical absurdity from the useless UFW, since mass immigration is the reason for the low wages to begin with. Apparently the “reporter” was unable to find anyone to ask whether it’s a viable business model for farmers to rely on 19th century technology and work practices, and then invest money in lobbyists instead of engineers designing new harvest machinery.