Thread: Michigan farms have plenty of workers this summer

Michigan farms have plenty of workers this summer as economy drives migrants back to the fields
Sunday, August 10, 2008
BY CHRIS KILLIAN

Special to the Gazette

SOUTH HAVEN -- In recent years, Mike DeGrandchamp struggled at times to find enough hands to pick the fresh blueberries that make their way onto customers' breakfast cereals and fruit plates.


But not this year.

Migrant workers who might have hoped to work construction and landscaping jobs that have dried up as a result of the sour economy are flocking to harvesting jobs, which farmers in the region have had a hard time filling in recent years, state officials say.

``There is definitely a more robust supply of workers than in past years,'' said DeGrandchamp, a partner in DeGrandchamp Farms, which operates a 130-acre blueberry farm near South Haven. ``There is a more than adequate supply.''

In recent years, because there weren't enough laborers, the farm used machines more than usual to harvest the fruit. But DeGrandchamp said blueberry farmers who sell on the fresh market want to be hand-picked because the fruit can be sold for more money.

This year, the farm employs almost 150 workers in picking and processing operations, ``more than enough,'' he said.

In 2006, the most recent year for which data are available, blueberries were the No. 1 fruit in the state in terms of value of production.

Blueberries brought in $139 million, said Mark Longstroth, Michigan State University Extension District Horticulture and Marketing Agent for Southwest Michigan.


Statewide, there are about 15,000 migrant farm workers picking fruit this year, said Rick Olivarez, state monitor advocate with the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth.

``That's the highest number we've seen in years,'' he said.

Longstroth said the state actually began to see an increase in the number of farm laborers last year, with some of them driving to different farms asking for work, something that ``hasn't happened in at least a half-dozen years.''
Couple the rise in additional migrant workers with those who come back annually and ``this year there's an abundance again,'' he said.

Officials with Olivarez's agency travel annually to Texas to lobby migrant farm workers to come to Michigan for the harvest season, which runs from April to October.

The trips have been ``very helpful'' in persuading workers to come to the state, which offers myriad social services to migrant farm laborers and their families, including medical, dental and educational services.

If the positive results continue, Michigan could become one of the top five destination states in the country for migrant farm labor, Olivarez said.

The state tries to find local residents to work in the harvest, Olivarez said, but ``even if we do, they don't last that long.

``The crops wouldn't be picked if it wasn't for migrant farm labor,'' he said.

Still, challenges remain.

Olivarez was told by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials that the government agency -- which enforces federal immigration laws -- would be focusing on finding undocumented workers in three industries this year: agriculture, hotels and landscaping.

Two years ago, a federal immigration crackdown may have kept many workers away, and growers of all kinds reported shortages of pickers.

Chantal Leduc, of Leduc Blueberries, hopes their workers aren't targeted.

``They're like family to us,'' she said. ``We need their skilled labor.''

Leduc said people get mad when she says it, but ``(local) people won't do this kind of work.''

Her farm employs about 150 to 170 migrant farm workers, most of whom come to work on the farm year after year. They shouldn't be afraid of being rounded up by federal agents, Leduc said.

``We need to protect these guys,'' she said.



http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/ind ... thispage=2

DeGrandchamp said blueberry farmers who sell on the fresh market want to be hand-picked because the fruit can be sold for more money.

Greed.

Dixie

They should continue using machines.