http://sun.yumasun.com/artman/publish/a ... _19742.php

Farmworker crisis puts Yuma in focus

BY JOYCE LOBECK, SUN BUSINESS EDITOR
Oct 11, 2005, 8:35 pm

Harvesting Yuma County's multi-million-dollar produce crops this winter poses a major problem for growers, because there aren't enough crews to get the job done.

Therefore, the national spotlight is on this corner of the country where officials hope a pilot program will be crafted in time to provide a legal work force by November, when growers begin harvesting the acres and acres of vegetables, said Thomas Nassif.

Nassif, president of Western Growers, an organization of fruit and vegetable growers in Arizona and California, was in Yuma Tuesday to meet with growers and The Sun to discuss the problem.

Harvest of the produce requires an estimated 30,000 workers, said Nassif, and already faced with shortages of thinning crews and tractor drivers, growers fear they will not have the manpower needed to get the crops out of the fields.

But it's not just agriculture that is facing a worker shortage, Nassif said, adding that the construction industry also is facing serious worker shortages and this country is facing a shortage of more than 20,000 truck drivers.

"Construction pays more than agriculture, but Americans won't work in construction for twice the pay," Nassif said when asked about the frequent argument that farmers should first try to fill jobs with people in this country.

"We don't have an unemployment problem in the U.S.," he said. "We don't have a shortage of jobs. The problem is how to get people to work in agriculture."

For example, he said, the California raisin industry just had a disaster because growers were short 40,000 workers resulting in an estimated $300 million loss.

In an effort to avoid a similar situation for produce growers in Yuma and Imperial counties, Nassif said, he's been working nearly full time to try to come up with a measure to enable workers to cross the border legally and easily.

Failure to come up with a solution would not only impact agriculture but the Yuma economy as a whole, he said.

"There would be a ripple effect."

Nassif took exception to federal agencies' enforcement focus on agriculture, saying that only about 10 percent of the 10.3 million estimated people illegally in the United States are working in agriculture.

"What is the interest in stopping agriculture?" he asked.

An effective guest worker program for farm workers would enhance border security by providing a way to track who is crossing the border and where they're going, said Timothy Chelling, vice president of communications for Western Growers, who accompanied Nassif.

The best hope for getting a solution in time to help Yuma-area farmers this winter lies with the administration, Nassif said. "It's too explosive an issue for legislators."

What is being proposed is a program that would provide permits for people who want to cross the border to work only in agriculture, only in Yuma and Imperial counties and only for a limited time, Nassif said. He added that Sen. Jon Kyl, R.-Ariz., was receptive to the idea.

A similar concept was presented to lawmakers by a delegation of Yuma-area growers and Yuma Mayor Larry Nelson during a visit a couple of weeks ago to Washington, D.C. They were seeking a commuter program for workers to cross the border to work in the fields during the day and return home to their families in the evenings.

Nassif said he's becoming more confident that such a measure might be implemented as a pilot program for this area.

He said that coming up with a solution for Yuma-area agriculture would serve as a model for the rest of the nation.

"We just want a legal, stable work force."