And You Thought Gas was High

Just you wait until you buy a gallon of OJ in the fall.

LAKELAND -- A shortage of harvesting labor aggravated by rumors about immigration reform may leave as many as 6 million boxes of oranges on trees by the end of the 2005-2006 citrus season.

"There's very little doubt we'll leave a significant amount of fruit on the tree. Whether that's 3 million boxes or 6 million boxes -- nobody can say," Mike Carlton, the director of production and labor affairs at Florida Citrus Mutual, said Friday.

Florida produces most of the OJ you drink and the illegals who normally pick those oranges are leaving the country because they have been told that if they leave they will be able to come back as guest workers. Meanwhile, most Americans won't pick oranges for $1.00 per box in June, in Florida. Hard to believe, I know. Especially when you consider you also have the opportunity to receive no benefits! The citrus industry won't pay $2.00 per box because it's not cost effective. So they'll let those oranges rot on the trees.

I hope our friend Lou Dobbs likes tomato juice. Oh wait, tomatoes are hand picked, too!