Booms and Busts

Labelle, FL

No LL

We were going to leave Labelle yesterday but it was rainy.  We were going to leave this morning and its really rainy.   Oh well.  That gives me a chance to reflect on what we see.

Labelle obviously is built on the economic model of an agricultural hub.  I suppose that such hubs are numerous in plains states like Kansas, but here in the East there are very few left.   What do I mean by a hub?  I mean that it is the only city for many miles around.   It is surrounded by vast tracts large scale agriculture.  Further, this particular agriculture is the kind that needs human labor more than massive machines.    It is a local agrarian society; a rarity in modern America.

So, the people who work on these farms earn money.  Where do they spend it?  Labelle in part.  Last year when we were here we saw numerous school buses that brought Mexican workers to town to shop.   The local stores thrived on their business.  We are thrilled by the wonderful selection of common foods that the local supermarkets sell.  It is so different than the yuppie menu items at the Publix store in Vero.   Almost all businesses have signs saying habla espanol.  Many offer services to send remittance money back to the mother country.   It seems that everyone benefits and it is a happy arrangement.

This year, the economic activity is dramatically lower.   I believe that the culprit is not the recession.  Rather it is the cold winter.  I heard on the news that local crops of fruits and vegetables are down by as much as 70%.   That means 70% fewer workers and 70% less money to spend in Labelle.   

So where did the workers go if they aren't here? I'm sure that is known but not know to me.  I have no idea.

The bad news is that agriculture is inherently boom-bust in nature.  The good news is that it can recover in a single season.   For example, a new crop of post-cold tomatoes will be ready to pick in a couple of months.  Other boom-busts like oil fields in Texas take decades to recover.  Still others like decline of mills and heavy industry in the Northeast rust belt take a century to recover.