Participation urged in farm labor survey

The damaging January freeze, followed by warm, dry weather, has pumped up strawberry production—and squeezed the South Coast farm labor pool dry. This situation in one of the the state's most productive strawberry growing regions, as well as a lack of workers in several other farming areas around the state, points to serious farm labor problems on the horizon.

To document these growing labor shortages and provide an early warning system for problems in the fields, the California Farm Bureau Federation is launching an ongoing survey to pinpoint those growing areas and crops struggling to find enough workers.

Right now in California's coastal growing areas, farmers who would normally be delighted with a profusion of sweet, red strawberries find themselves scrambling to get their crops harvested before they're too ripe for market.

Field crews can't keep up with the ripening fields because there are too few of them to do the job, said Ventura County Farm Bureau President Henry Vega, who is a labor contractor and farm manager. Likewise, the lemon and avocado crops on the South Coast are suffering from too few hands and extensive damage from the historic freeze that needs to be cleaned up.

"We employ anywhere from 700 to 1,000 workers during the year and we're really, really short this year," Vega sad. "In strawberries we completely lost 45 days of production because the flowers were damaged by the freeze. It takes about 45 days to regenerate from flower to strawberry.

"But now that it has warmed up, the plants are putting out berries all over the place," he said. "We're really scrambling to keep up and we're very short of labor."

For example, he said, "On one ranch we need 240 workers and I'm at about 190. We had to struggle to get that many workers. We've had to go to the processing plants—jelly and juice—because our crews can't keep up with field production and the fruit gets too ripe to ship."

Vega said it's hard at this point to figure how much of the South Coast strawberry crop will be lost because of the labor shortage.

"We don't normally go to processing, which pays less than fresh market, until the end of our season—usually about late-May to early June," Vega said. "It's only mid-April. I can't tell you how big the crop losses or commodity shift will be right now. I can't tell you the final score in the middle of the game."

Vega said lemon volume has been very limited because of the freeze, which means fewer workers have been needed in recent weeks, but demand for labor will increase in the future.

He said the problem farmers face with lemons is the need to strip the trees of fruit that's too damaged to market, which involves labor costs, but no sales to offset the expense.

"I'm getting a lot of calls from farmers looking for crews to strip and prepare the lemon trees for the next season and avocado growers who want workers to come in and prune where the trees were burned by the freeze," he said. "Avocado pruning is an art and it's hard to find workers qualified to do this work."

He said the outlook for labor during this crop year is very tight for citrus and avocado. But the strawberry harvest worries him, particularly in September and October when harvest for many commodities overlaps the south coast's planting season for the 2008 crop.

"I just don't know what's going to happen," he said. "We hope to transition workers, but the major rub will be when the strawberry harvest begins up north. We're going to be vying with other growing areas for a shrinking pool of workers."

Because the outlook on immigration reform remains unsettled, Jack King, CFBF national affairs manager, said, "There are so many strong feelings about immigration and the need for reform that it creates a charged atmosphere. It will take boldness on the part of Congress to deal with this issue, but it's easy to duck it if things get too hot."

Asked how long Congress can realistically skirt the immigration reform issue without taking action, King said it would be a shame if representatives waited for a full-blown crisis.

"Unfortunately for California, if the crisis worsens it will cause a lot of damage before the situation could be corrected," King said. "I think many in Congress see the need to do something, but the view is mixed on how best to correct the problem and how fast."

With the uncertainties inherent in agriculture, King said California farmers are clear that a broken guest worker program shouldn't be yet one more unpredictable problem.

"There has got to be an orderly way for workers to come to the United States legally and still have adequate enforcement at the border," he said. "These things need to be done in tandem, it's not one or the other."

Because the state's farm labor supply situation is deteriorating, King said CFBF is launching a monitoring program to assess labor supply conditions as the need for employees builds through the summer.

"We're putting this survey together and asking members to respond with their personal assessments," King said. "It's not a one-time survey. We intend the survey to be ongoing through the crop year and to serve as a tool for informing officials in Washington, D.C., as well as an early warning system for the state as labor problems develop."

King said Farm Bureau members should fill out the survey and then provide updates as their labor situation changes. The survey form, which is brief and straightforward, is included in Ag Alert, available online and from county Farm Bureau offices, as well as through the Farm Employers Labor Service.

Barry Bedwell, president of the California Grape and Treefruit League in Fresno, said, "At this early stage we see continued tightening of the labor supply. We're fortunate we had a dry spring because that allowed fewer workers to get more preparation work done in the orchards.

"But, what I'm hearing from growers is that they have a bigger crop than a year ago on the trees and fewer workers to help get the crop to market. The growers are like cats on a hot tin roof. They really are worried about this.

"They know we're speeding down the tracks and the bridge is out," he said. "We're going to see more cullage for the fruit, more of fruit going to waste, less return for the grower and more acres going out of production. Eventually we'll see widespread loss and major economic damage."

Lodi cherry and winegrape grower Bruce Fry said he expects to start harvesting cherries about May 15. San Joaquin Valley cherry growers already are meeting to plan strategies for coping with a lack of labor and harvesting a highly perishable crop.

"I don't know what we're going to find when it comes time to harvest," Fry said. "We work with a labor contractor for cherries, but use our own crews for grapes. I can tell you that unlike it used to be in the past, people aren't stopping by the office looking for work. That does not happen any more."

"I can also tell you right now it's tight," said Fry, who is president of Winegrape Growers of America and vice chairman of the California Association of Winegrape Growers. "And, I can tell you that even if you get some kind of reform passed—whether it's comprehensive legislation or AgJOBS—it's already too late for us.

"When you consider the time it will take to get the new program implemented, even if passed tomorrow it will take a couple of years for the changes to happen," Fry said. "I think the losses we had on the North Coast last year with the pears is just the beginning and I think there will be other crop losses too.

"And that will happen even with the best-case legislative scenario," Fry said. "Maybe I'm being pessimistic about how things operate in Washington, D.C., but that's my view. We need something done."

Fry said passing AgJOBS would be a good place for lawmakers to start.

"If Congress is going to debate comprehensive immigration reform, fine, but let's try AgJOBS as a pilot project," he said. "Let's see if it works or not. Then we can learn and tweak the new programs based on what happens."

As a national agricultural leader, Fry said he finds that growers from all states are in the same dire labor situation as California, whether its New York or Oregon.

"I hope farmers will take the time to fill out Farm Bureau's survey," said Fry, who is a San Joaquin Farm Bureau director. "This is a problem on everyone's mind and we need to know what's going on the the field."

AgJOBS

The Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits, and Security Act of 2007, commonly referred to as AgJOBS, has been re-introduced in the House and Senate. The bills, H.R. 371 and S. 340, are stand-alone legislation dealing only with agriculture. This same legislation, however, has been rolled into a comprehensive immigration reform bill that is also before Congress.

AgJOBS offers earned adjustment to legal status for workers who don't have required immigration documents. To earn adjustment and obtain a blue card, as well as future legal residency, workers would need to meet these criteria:

• To qualify for temporary resident status, a worker must prove prior agricultural employment in the United States for 150 work days or 863 hours during the 24-month period ending on Dec. 31, 2006.
• The worker must also continue to work in U.S. agriculture for at least five years, including at least 100 work days a year during that time, or, alternatively, work three years in U.S. agriculture for at least 150 work days a year. A work day can be no less than 5.75 hours.
• Workers would pay fines prior to obtaining blue cards and permanent residency.

Other provisions of AgJOBS require that blue card visas would be tamper-proof, featuring electronic identification strips and the use biometric identifiers; and that there would be safeguards to prevent felons from qualifying for the program.

AgJOBS also would streamline the existing H-2A program for temporary international workers. Workers and employers participating in the program won't be subject to legal liabilities. In addition, this revamped H-2A program would serve as the ongoing guest worker program when the newly legalized work force needs replacements in future years.

Provisions in AgJOBS include expedited processing of H-2A petitions for those seeking foreign workers, with a labor condition application replacing the current labor certification process.

It also would clarify and restrict those areas where employers could be liable for federal violations. There also is a provision for mandatory mediation prior to litigation, which plagues the current H-2A program.

The proposed H-2A reforms also feature an outline for housing or housing vouchers, reimbursement of transportation expenses and terms for setting wage levels.

Proposed reforms also allow some H-2A employees, such as sheep and goat herders or dairy workers, to work on an extended three-year non-immigrant visa without departing the United States. The proposed H-2A reforms would provide a secure identity and work authorization document for H-2A aliens.

(Kate Campbell is a reporter for Ag Alert. She may be contacted at kcampbell@cfbf.com.)