For more than two decades the mushroom industry has been paying wages exceeding the minimum wage. Indeed, without paying competitive wages mushroom farm owners would be unable to hire workers. An American Farm bureau Federation economic report used statistics from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Labor Survey and found that in 2005 the average farm worker’s wage was $9.50, well above the $5.15 minimum wage and many farms paid for a benefits package. According to Patrick O’Brien, an economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, “There’s a general view that farmers just want to hire cheap labor, and they could find plenty of workers if they were just willing to pay better wages but the wage data show that the average farm worker already makes nearly twice the minimum wage, with benefits on top of that.”