Thread: Farmers change crops to get by with less labor

Farmers change crops to get by with less labor
Area growers see the prison inmate farmworker program as a temporary fix, not a solution.
By MARGIE WOOD
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
http://www.chieftain.com/metro/1186901724/4


Phil Prutch of Peppers Plus and Phil's Market fills a roaster with Anaheim peppers during last year's harvest. He says the state's immigration laws are scaring away legal workers.

Pueblo County farmers who have participated in the pilot program using prison inmates to replace missing migrants in their fields have mixed feelings.

They've gone out on a limb to join the program, starting out with some skepticism whether the inmates would be credible substitutes for the migrants - and enduring some criticism from the United Farm Workers of America union, and even some national media in the bargain.

Phil Prutch, who farms 250 acres on the St. Charles Mesa, acknowledges that the crews of inmates "probably saved some crops for me that I wouldn't have been able to get to with my other workers."

But he is outspoken in his criticism of the Colorado Legislature for adopting tough new immigration laws that have scared off many migrant workers this year.

"My people were legal, but they just got scared off because the laws got so tough," Prutch said. "The Legislature sure wasn't thinking about the farmers when they did that."

The shortage of migrant workers actually began last year, when the Legislature convened in a special summer session to work on immigration issues. Some local farmers had to leave crops in the field when the migrants they expected for harvest time didn't arrive.
Joe Pisciotta Jr., another participant in the inmate pilot, said some of his regular migrants warned him late last year that they wouldn't be back this summer.

"One of my guys told me he thought his papers were all in order, but what if he got picked up and sent back and his wife and kids were left here," Pisciotta said in an interview in May.

Both Pisciotta and Prutch have described the inmate program as a temporary stopgap, not a permanent solution to the problem.

Prutch said farmers need a guest worker program that is not so layered with bureaucracy as the existing federal program, which requires employers to apply a year in advance and offers no guarantee that the workers actually will be available.

"You can't just jump into it for one year and think it'll work for everybody," he said.

Still, state officials said more farmers than ever have applied for that federal guest worker program, known as the H-2A federal foreign labor certification.

Colorado Agriculture Commissioner John Stulp, a former Prowers County commissioner and Lamar-area farmer, said the H-2A program is fraught with problems.

"We're aware that a number of producers have worked hard on getting H-2A programs into their operations, but they're finding out that there's so much red tape and bureaucracy that I'm not hearing that there's very much success there. It's tight everywhere on labor just based on the reputation we seem to have as a state. As a result, I've heard that many producers are considering a different crop for next year."

Betty Velasquez, director of the state employment office in Rocky Ford, said her office is charged with trying to find local workers before an employer is permitted to bring guest workers into the country through the H-2A program. "We have to exhaust all attempts to find local workers first," she said.

She said two employers in her area have a total of 50 Mexican farmworkers working under the H-2A program and she expects to receive more requests for next season if the worker shortage persists.

As a result of the worker shortage, many local farmers already have changed their crops in expectation of fewer migrants, planting more corn in many cases because it can be harvested by machine rather than by hand.

That hurts the pocketbook because vegetables bring a better price than corn, although renewed interest in ethanol fuel has helped keep the price of corn up this year, according to Colorado State University Extension Director Frank Sobolik.

Prutch usually puts almost all his land in vegetables but said he cut back to corn and beans on approximately 30 percent of his land. In late July, he said he had only about 50 percent of his usual work force.

"We're harvesting some vegetables now, but the big push is about to start," he said on July 31. "Every day we're harvesting something else, so I foresee needing the Correctional Industry gals again."

Patti Dionisio, who has acted as the liaison between participating farmers and Correctional Industries, said the farmers were "pleasantly surprised at the serious motivation the inmates have shown to learn different skills and also at their ability to hang in" through the heat and the hard work in the fields.

"We can't give enough praise to the DOC officials and supervisors," she said. "They have done everything in their power to make this program work."

Dionisio said the program gave her a new appreciation of being able to help inmates, as well.


Eric Letendre (right), who supervises a crew of women inmates, talks to Avondale-area farmer Joe Pisciotta in his onion field being tended by Letendre's crew.

"The inmates in this program will have a better chance than most of not returning to the prison system after they are released," she said. The farm work helps them "establish a work pattern and a sense of accomplishment, since many of them have no previous employment experience."

The money they earn also will give them a better start financially, she said.

Dionisio even expressed hope that the inmates might continue in field work after they finish their sentences.

"We can protect our investment knowing what our labor force will be and we can plan our crops accordingly," she said in mid-July. "It gives us confidence to know that if we are fortunate enough to get the crop raised, we will have a steady, reliable work force to help harvest it whenever we need it."

One longtime farm-labor contractor, however, has little faith in the inmate labor pilot program.

Johnny Camacho of Rocky Ford has been a licensed agricultural labor contractor since 1962. He doubts prison inmates have the work ethic necessary to be a reliable source of labor.

"They're not that quality of a worker," Camacho said of the inmates. "I was born in the fields. Put somebody to work next to me and they'll quit because they can't keep up. People from the cities don't know what it's like in the fields when it's 100 degrees."

He says the real test will be at harvest, which is just beginning.

"It's going to be hard to find workers - especially for the small 10- to 20-acre farms," he predicted. "I bring professionals in. They have only one thing in mind - work every day until we get the crop in - that's 90 days without a day off."

- Staff writers Charles Ashby and Juan Espinosa contributed to this report.

He says the state's immigration laws are scaring away legal workers.

Why in the world would a legal worker be scared?

Don't these people ever get tired of lying - and that is what is it'.

My people were legal, but they just got scared off because the laws got so tough," Prutch said. "The Legislature sure wasn't thinking about the farmers when they did that."

Hogwash! Just how stupid do they think we are.



"One of my guys told me he thought his papers were all in order, but what if he got picked up and sent back and his wife and kids were left here," Pisciotta said in an interview in May.


I wonder how long it took them to rehearse him to spew this trash.

These farmers like having an endless supply of workers on hand at any given time. They don't have to fill out any paperwork, no one makes sure it is safe. With prison workers, there are contractual obligations I am sure. Someone knows how much exactly one is paying, and what one is doing in the fields.

I am beginning to wonder if some of these farmers are not playing fast and loose with their bookeeping. If they pay illegals cash, how is one to know if they hired 100 or 150 - and the added expenses look OK to the IRS - how would they check?

Yes, not only do they have endless workers, at their beck and call, because taxpayers keep them in food, medical treatment, housing, etc. until they want them, I think they may be padding the books.

Also, suppose they are using some pesticide or other practice they are not supposed to be using. An illegal might not tell - a prisoner might.

I agree nntrixie...The prison worker program should be expanded,it is a win win situation.Farmers who balk are probably not being honest.

I love the fact the prisoners get to keep a small portion of their pay cause when they are released they have a little nest egg to help them while they search for work instead of having to steal to stay alive since most people won't hire a ex-con.

I guess my next congressional fax campaign will incude "Use Prisoners" not only for farmers but anwhere else possible.It is a Great Idea !!

American ingenuity at it's best.