News

Immigration law gets blame for rising price of pine straw

Brace yourself for some sticker shock next time you order pine straw for your landscape.

And it's not because there's a shortage of pine straw falling on Georgia's more than 20-million acres of forest land. Landscapers blame their price increases on a shortage of immigrant workers to rake and bale their product.

"I'm having to get some of my stock from Florida because there's not enough labor in south Georgia," said Jim Satterfield of Four Seasons Pine Straw.

He believes Georgia's new immigration law has scared the workers away.  It's the same complaint heard from vegetable farmers during their harvest.

"We probably have 5,000 bales on order that we cannot fill right now," he said.

Cobb homeowner Julie Lovell found out about the worker shortage and the price increase the hard way.

"I was taken by surprise," she said, "and I know last year we paid significantly less than we did."

Georgia's immigration law changed in July 2011, requiring employers to check immigrant status before hiring anyone.

Listen

news

weather

traffic

mobile apps

Everything you love about wsbradio.com and more! Tap on any of the buttons below to download our app.

amazon alexa

Enable our Skill today to listen live at home on your Alexa Devices!