Thread: Labor shortage hits organic farmers

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Labor shortage hits organic farmers

Growers depend on immigrant workers

By Juliana Barbassa
ASSOCIATED PRESS

August 13, 2006

WATSONVILLE – Foreman Eber Diaz is bent over a field of parsley, a sickle in his right hand, his left working quickly to gather herbs among the weeds. For every fragrant bunch he picks and ties with a twist, he stops to rip out handfuls of the thick-stemmed weeds crowding the crop.

Normally, these fields would be free of weeds and workers would move easily up and down the rows, harvesting organic vegetables and herbs meant for dinner tables around the country. But increased patrolling along the border with Mexico, and easier, higher-paying jobs in the city have made farmworkers scarce.

Nationwide, farms are feeling the pinch, but organic farms growing labor-intensive, hand-picked crops such as Lakeside Organic Gardens in the lush Pajaro Valley on California's Central Coast are especially hard hit as fields go untended, and acres have to be torn up because there is no one to harvest them.

“It's heartbreaking,” said farmer Dick Peixoto.

As Diaz's crew tried to salvage parsley, Peixoto examined the weeds choking tiny spinach plants and towering over the lettuce, leaving some plants starved for light.

The situation is so bad Peixoto has been forced to tear out nearly 30 acres of vegetables and has about 100 acres compromised by weeds. He estimates his loss so far to be about $200,000, worse than anything he's seen in his 31 years of farming.

Farmers such as Peixoto admit reliance on immigrants, legal or not, and they're watching Washington's border crackdown with apprehension.

More than half the nation's approximately 1.8 million farmworkers are in the United States illegally, although California growers believe the percentage in the Golden State is much higher.

Growers check documents provided by prospective workers, knowing fakes are easy to find and the industry couldn't survive without the labor of undocumented workers.

This dependence on immigrant labor has turned farmers into strong advocates of immigration reform. They're pushing hard for a program that would allow guest workers to enter the country legally to work with employers who are waiting, as spelled out in one of the proposals stalled in Washington.

“The government says we have to get rid of these undocumented workers, but they don't have an answer for us,” said Peixoto. “How are we supposed to do this?”

Traditional farmers – even growers of delicate, hand-picked crops such as the berries of the Pajaro Valley – can get by with up to 20 percent fewer workers.

Their crops might hang on the vine a little later, and they might have to pay extra to keep workers in the field longer. But at least they can wipe out the weeds with chemicals, and focus their work force on harvesting and other tasks that can't be put off.

Conventional farmer John Eiskamp hired 320 workers to reach between the brambles on his 180-acre raspberry and blackberry farm and pluck out the juicy berries.

He could have used an extra 30 to 50 workers but made do by paying workers to put in 12-or 14-hour days for weeks during the peak of harvest and by postponing trellising, weeding and covering the plants.

With stiff competition for workers, organic growers face the extra challenge of trying to lure workers to do particularly backbreaking tasks. Members of Diaz's crew were bending at the waist to pull weeds by hand, a task that needs to be done several times during the growing season. Harvesting is done the same way.

“No one wants to do this work,” Diaz said. “I've never seen a situation where it was so difficult to find people.”

Every day, Peixoto evaluates his fields and is forced to decide which ones are worth trying to pick and which ones are so overgrown with weeds they'd be too expensive to harvest.

The labor shortage will only get worse as the government adds more law enforcement to the border without creating avenues for workers to come in legally, said Tim Chelling, spokesman for Western Growers, which represents about 3,000 fruit and vegetable farmers.

“No one wants to do this work,” Diaz said. “I've never seen a situation where it was so difficult to find people.”

Don't you mean no one wants to do this work at the pathetic wages you are paying?

“The government says we have to get rid of these undocumented workers, but they don't have an answer for us,” said Peixoto. “How are we supposed to do this?”

Why should the government be responsible for finding a solution to your problem! Perhaps you need a smaller farm that you can manage legally. Americans are getting sick and tired of subsidizing the living requirement of illegal immigrants so you can have cheap labor. All I can say is, fix your own damn problem and quite whinning and depending on the government. Actually, depending on the government is the same as depending on us, because spending our tax dollars is how they FIX problems. I don't know about everyone else, but I don't want to spend another red cent in support of your illegal activities. If it came down to it, I'd much rather spend a few more dollars at the grocery store! He$$, for that matter, I'd give up vegetables all together if it would get rid of the illegal immigrants.