Thread: MI: Crops ready; where are workers?

Crops ready; where are workers?
Friday, May 04, 2007
By Chris Killian
Special to the Gazette

Rodney Winkel is worried.

His 90-acre asparagus crop is ready to be harvested, but the Watervliet farmer doesn't have enough laborers to pick it. Earlier this week, he had 14 migrant workers ready to harvest the crop. He needs 32 per day.

``If things don't start to change, a lot of food is simply going to be left in the ground,'' he said. ``This is a big problem, and many people don't even know it.''

Also a grower of apples and cherries, Winkel said that if the shortage in migrant labor continues through the summer, he will lose ``tens of thousands of dollars'' this year.

Unfortunately, there is not much cause for optimism, according to Rick Olivarez, state monitor advocate for the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth.

``We're predicting a shortage of migrant help statewide,'' he said. ``This could translate into major impacts on the economic conditions of farms and, therefore, added costs to consumers.''

The reason for the continued shortage, Winkel said, is that migrant workers and their families are not moving around the country as much as they used to.

``With all the raids going on, they're scared,'' he said of efforts by federal law enforcement and immigration officials to find undocumented laborers in the United States. ``I don't blame them.''

Olivarez expects even fewer migrant farm workers to funnel into Michigan than last year, when, according to the Michigan Farm Bureau, farmers reported a 30 percent worker shortage.

The possibility exists that more migrant workers from Texas could become available when their children get out of school in late May, but, Olivarez said, ``it doesn't seem likely.''

About 90,000 migrant laborers and family members come to the state each year, according to the Michigan Interagency Migrant Service Committee.

For the past six years, officials from the state's labor department have traveled to Texas to promote opportunities for migrant workers in Michigan's agricultural industry.

This year, officials have talked with 500 to 600 families, Olivarez said, less than last year.

The current challenges come at a time when the immigration debate is again heating up in the U.S. Congress. Winkel said he is anxious to see Congress pass comprehensive immigration reform that focuses on the practical necessity of migrant labor, not on what he calls fear.

``Give them a work visa, a Green Card, something,'' he said. ``I'd say 99.9 percent of them are hard-working, law-abiding citizens. They want to do the jobs Americans don't, and we need their help.

``I understand the need for security, but who is going to harvest the crops?''

Bob Colgren, a farming colleague of Winkel's, is worried that a continued shortage of migrant labor might mean an end to farming as we know it.

Produce increasingly will be grown in other countries and shipped to the U.S., and large farms could be bought and developed if the trend continues, he said.

``We might lose all this farmland,'' said Colgren, a second-generation farmer who grows apples and cherries in Lawrence. ``I don't think people want to see that happen.''

He travels to Washington, D.C. once a year to speak with U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, and U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin, pleading with them to pass meaningful legislation that provides a legal way for migrant workers to enter the country.

``They understand where we're coming from,'' he said. ``But this has become such a political football that nothing gets done. Meanwhile, the rug is being pulled out from underneath us.''

http://link.toolbot.com/mlive.com/77558

Spring brings farm labor troubles to Michigan
Sunday, April 15, 2007
By Sarah Kellogg
Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Michigan's farmers are waiting and hoping -- waiting for winter to end and hoping that when it does there will be enough migrant workers to plant and pick their crops.

While farmers can do little about the weather, they are hoping that Congress will help them with migrant labor. After years of battling over immigration reform, legislation is pending in the U.S. House and Senate that would revamp the agricultural visa program for migrant workers.

Michigan's growers say last year's labor shortage (about 20 percent to 25 percent shy of what was needed) could get worse this year, and they're hoping Congress will do something to ensure the problem doesn't stretch into next year. High on their list is streamlining the current visa program and creating a system for illegal immigrants living here to stay without penalty.

"We need a labor force," said Duane Frens, executive director of the Michigan Celery Promotion Cooperative Inc., a growers group that markets and processes celery. "The guys getting laid off at GM aren't qualified to do farm labor, and they certainly aren't interested in doing it. We need Congress to find a solution to what could end up being a serious labor shortage."

Any significant or long-term labor shortage could threaten Michigan's fruit and vegetable sectors, costing hundreds of millions a year in sales and eventually forcing the closure of family farms and shifting fruit and vegetable production to foreign countries.

"The economic impact to Michigan is potentially devastating," said John Bakker, executive director of the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board, a marketing group. "At a time when we can ill afford to have anything else go awry in our economy, we have a threat like this."

So, as Congress ponders its next move on immigration, Michigan's fruit and vegetable farmers are asking themselves how they'll survive the growing season that begins this month with asparagus and ends in October with apples.

Michigan needs more farm labor than most states because most of its crops must be planted, picked or processed by hand, to avoid damaging them.

Some 90,000 farm workers and their families are the backbone of Michigan's agricultural labor force, according to a recent survey by the Interagency Migrant Services Committee, a state panel made up of representatives from many Michigan government agencies.

About 35,000 of them are migrant workers who travel from places like Florida, Texas or Mexico to work at Michigan farms or in production facilities. Another 11,000 are seasonal farm workers who live in Michigan year around at dairies or nurseries. The remaining 44,000 are worker family members.

While every Michigan county has migrant workers, they're concentrated in western Michigan in Ottawa, Oceana, Van Buren, Berrien, Kent, Allegan, Mason, Muskegon and Kalamazoo counties.

Agriculture officials believe the shortage of workers can be traced to the public debate about immigration reform and government raids on plants and farms intended to scare illegal immigrants back to Mexico.

"The Mexican people get the same news media that we get in this country," said Denise Yockey, executive director of the Michigan Apple Committee. "Many of them hear about the raids. They hear the anti-immigrant messages, and they're having a chilling effect."

But advocates for migrant workers say there are plenty of workers for growers who treat their employees humanely.

"We have a lot of workers here. We certainly don't have a shortage," said Teresa Hendricks, executive director of the Michigan Migrant Legal Assistance Project. "Some growers who are notorious for labor problems may be looking at a shortage because workers are not going to go back there."

Hendricks says she hopes Congress changes the H-2A visa program for agricultural workers to accommodate workers and not growers. The H-2A visa program allows foreign workers to enter into contracts with specific growers and work temporarily in the United States.

"I think the living and working conditions approach slavery," said Hendricks, noting that some workers live in chicken coops or shacks and have little access to food or health care. "The government visa program is a government-sanctioned form of indentured servitude."

Hendricks likes one of the legislative proposals pending in Congress, known as the AgJOBS bill, would rework the H-2A program to make it more accommodating to growers and allow illegal immigrants to apply for temporary resident status. Eventually, workers would be able to earn permanent resident status.

"Let's get a bill out there that takes care of our current labor needs and also fixes the problem long-term," said Sarah Black, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Farm Bureau.

But the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which opposes efforts to loosen immigration laws, believes that Congress shouldn't revamp the H-2A visa law to satisfy what the federation perceives as the greed of farmers who are looking to make a profit by hiring cheap labor.

"The H-2A visa program allows in an unlimited number of foreign agriculture workers," said Jack Martin, FAIR's special projects director. "The only reason that agriculture employers aren't using the program in many cases is they can hire illegal aliens for less money.. It doesn't need changing."

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Also a grower of apples and cherries, Winkel said that if the shortage in migrant labor continues through the summer, he will lose ``tens of thousands of dollars'' this year.

Not if you'd pay a respectable wage!

I know where all the workers went... to the big city where they could take construction jobs from Americans and make 3 times the money!!!

I know a guy who uses the visa program.

He's never had trouble getting workers. Usually the same people return each year.

Also a grower of apples and cherries, Winkel said that if the shortage in migrant labor continues through the summer, he will lose ``tens of thousands of dollars'' this year.

Better you than me. Maybe this guy needs to invest in machinery instead of slave labor.

Originally Posted by PinestrawGuys

I know where all the workers went... to the big city where they could take construction jobs from Americans and make 3 times the money!!!

Exactly..I wonder if the farmers are so stubborn as to let the crops rot in the fields rather than treating the workers decently and paying them what the job really deserves. This is most likely the case.

`With all the raids going on, they're scared,'' he said of efforts by federal law enforcement and immigration officials to find undocumented laborers in the United States. ``I don't blame them.''

This is crazy! They're not afraid to go to work at construction or in the factories or restaurants. Why should they go to Michigan to pick crops when they can stay in Texas and make more money working at McDonald's. You are right they are working construction and in the factories where American workers use to work, they are not going to pick crops anymore.

had_enuf wrote:

I know a guy who uses the visa program.

He's never had trouble getting workers. Usually the same people return each year.

Those folks aren't cheap enough for most farmers, had_enuf.

Here's what the farmer must provide for H2A workers:

- The employer must offer the H-2A worker the same wages as comparable U.S. workers. This follows the prevailing wage established by the DOL (not necessary for illegal immigrant).

- The employer must provide the worker with an earnings statement detailing the worker's total earnings, the hours of work offered, and the hours actually worked (not necessary for illegal immigrant).

- The employer must provide transportation to and from the worker's temporary home as well as transportation to the next workplace when the contract is fulfilled (not necessary for illegal immigrant).

- The employer must provide housing to all H-2A workers. The housing must be inspected by DOL and must satisfy appropriate minimum federal standards (not necessary for illegal immigrant).

- The employer must provide the necessary tools and supplies to perform the work.

- The employer must provide meals or facilities in which the workers can prepare food (not necessary for illegal immigrant).

- The employer must provide worker's compensation insurance to the H-2A workers (not necessary for illegal immigrant).

Illegal immigrants have spoiled the farmers!

`With all the raids going on, they're scared,'' he said of efforts by federal law enforcement and immigration officials to find undocumented laborers in the United States. ``I don't blame them.''

They are not afraid! They have moved on to better jobs. They DO NOT want to work in the fields... if they did...there are 30 million of them here, you shouldn't be having a problem!!