"Pickers Are Few, and Growers Blame Congress" NYT, Julia Preston

The obvious solution to this is that the RNC needs to team up with conservative churches around the country that have parishoners who want their children to know the meaning/value of hard work. They can send their kids to this program, which will house them in California while they pick food. It will teach them about hard work, make them more compassionate towards blue collar workers (and possibly immigrants) and make them more appreciative of what it takes to put food on their table. I think those are all things that Republicans and conservatives consider good values.

Someone could also consider signing up reform programs or rehab programs run by churches or Christian organizations. That's a year-round labor pool right there.

Unless we want to consider white-collar prisoners, which I also would think is a good idea. And if they get paid the same prison wages as all other prison workers (7 cents an hour or so), I think that would teach the tax evaders and inside traders a thing or two about abusing the system.

In fact, Patt Morrison of the LA Times wrote a column about this some time back. If someone had just implemented it this year, there would have been more than enough workers to help out with this harvest.