To be an athlete, does a person’s diet have to be grain-free? Do they have to work out every day? Every other day? Do they have to reach between 70 and 80 percent of their max heart rate for longer than 20 minutes at a time? Do they need to wear moisture-wicking fabrics? Use a training program on their Apple Watch?

Of course not.

At the farm level, labor is typically manual, repetitive and fairly low-paying work. Usually that means minimum wage or a piece-rate job, so finding folks to do the work is already tough. But with the pandemic it’s become even more difficult because government subsidies aren’t motivating people to work. It puts those of us who depend on labor in a real bind.