SANTA CRUZ (California) SENTINEL

July 29, 2006

Fewer farmworkers in Pajaro Valley means acreage abandoned

By EMILY SAARMAN
SENTINEL CORRESPONDENT

Labor shortages are squeezing farmers in the Pajaro Valley, forcing some to abandon acres of cultivated crops.

It's hard to put a finger on exactly how many workers are missing from the strawberry, raspberry and vegetable fields, but farmers estimate the shortfall at 10 to 20 percent.

"I had to plow under acres and acres of beans, squash, cucumbers and lettuce because I couldn't find enough workers," said Dick Peixoto, who grows organic vegetables near Watsonville. "It's a huge problem. In 30 years, I've never seen it this bad."

Most farmers attribute the labor shortage to tightened borders that discourage workers from coming to America from Mexico.

Nationwide, 75 percent of agricultural workers were born in Mexico and 53 percent are undocumented, according to a 2004 survey by the U.S. Department of Labor. In California, undocumented workers may make up as much as 80 percent of the agricultural work force, said Tim Chellings, vice president of communication for the Western Growers Association, an organization of roughly 3,000 farmers and produce packers in California and Arizona.

Although farmers only employ workers with documents that look valid, forged Social Security and green cards can be bought on the black market for as little as $75. With these forged documents, workers can get jobs and pay taxes, but not receive benefits. Each year, the Social Security Administration receives roughly $7 billion in tax revenues from such "mismatched" social security numbers.

"The government says we have to get rid of undocumented workers, but they don't have an answer about how we're going to get these crops harvested," Peixoto said. "I haven't had a single unemployed American person come looking for a job."

Peixoto said he has about 20 percent fewer workers than he needs, and even raising wages hasn't helped fill his payroll.

"Unless we get comprehensive immigration reform, I expect it will only get worse," said John Eiskamp, a raspberry grower in the Pajaro Valley.

Eiskamp has managed to harvest all his crop despite an estimated 10 percent shortage of workers, but that success hasn't come without a toll. During the peak of the raspberry harvest in June, Eiskamp had workers in the fields 12 to 14 hours a day, struggling to keep up with the fruit-laden plants.

Most farmers are in favor of a guest worker program, which would allow workers to come to California to work in the fields with dignity during the harvest season and return to Mexico during slower winter months.

For the time being, though, farmers are raising wages to attract experienced workers and looking at ways to improve harvest efficiency.

Most farmers pay their workers a small base hourly rate plus a piece rate per box of fruit harvested. This encourages efficiency and Eiskamp said his fastest pickers make up to $14 per hour while the slower pickers make about $8 per hour.

Eiskamp said he will try to further increase efficiency by switching his fields over to a new variety of raspberry called Mara Villa, which produces big berries that make picking faster.

Peixoto said he will switch some fields to less labor-intensive vegetables to avoid plowing crops under in future years. It takes about five times the number of laborers to pick an acre of green beans as it takes to pick an acre of lettuce.

"Higher wages may help attract better help but it doesn't solve the problem, it just steals workers from other farms," said Edward Ortega, a strawberry grower near Watsonville.

Efren Barajas, a United Farm Workers union vice president, disagrees.

"Farmers have raised wages a very little bit, but it's not enough," Barajas said. "Workers are going to industries with better pay."

Despite what farmers claim, Barajas said most entry-level farmworkers make little more than $7 per hour and rejoice if they net $15,000 a year. And undocumented workers pay taxes like everyone else, but they never see a cent in tax returns.

Though they disagree about wages, both the union and farmers say the solution lies in legislation that will help more immigrants get legal documents to work in the U.S.

"I hope the government helps us get a workable worker program," Ortega said. "Right now the cost of agriculture is going through the roof, and we can't raise the price enough to recoup."