In just one example. because of labor shortages. U.S. avocado farmers may miss the January market window and lose out to Mexican avocado farmers who will be allowed to import into California in 2007. This will wipe out our local avocado crop. The fact that they cannot get the labor they need to harvest the fruits and vegetables only weakens our whole American agricultural industry. Now. the reason for the shortage is simple. There is no readily available pool of excess labor to replace the 500.000 foreign migrant workers we have depended on for years. The work is hard. It is stooped.