PALM BEACH POST

August 25, 2006

Tight borders to cause worker squeeze, citrus growers warned

By Susan Salisbury, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

NORTH FORT MYERS — Florida farmers will have a tougher time finding migrant help this coming season, and they will have to pay close attention to new laws protecting those workers from pesticides, two industry officials told growers Thursday.

Increased immigration enforcement, bolstered by a recent $2.6 billion appropriation, will affect the supply of agricultural workers, said Walter Kates, director of labor relations for the Maitland-based Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association.

Kates addressed attendees at the 15th Annual Citrus Expo, being held this week at the Lee Civic Center. More than 1,600 people attended a seminar and trade show Wednesday and Thursday.

“It will go from a stream to a trickle,” Kates said of the number of workers coming over the border from Mexico.  “We will not have the number of workers in the past.”

Workers typically move from agriculture to higher-paying jobs in construction and other industries, Kates said, but new immigrants replenished the supply.

"We don't have that replenishment worker anymore. It will have a dramatic impact on how we do business in the future," he said. "We are looking at a new day."

Kates said Congress is completely polarized on immigration issues. Legislators were trying to reach a compromise this spring, but immigration-related protests destroyed that effort, he said.

"Illegals went to the streets and flew the Mexican flag. That just about wiped out the middle ground," Kates said. "People who had been sympathetic in the past were not anymore."

Grove and nursery owners said that despite the tightening at the borders, they're not too worried about obtaining workers this season.

Joe Himrod, who employs fewer than a dozen people at Himrod Citrus Nursery in Hardee County, said most of his workers are year-round rather than seasonal.

"It's not just that there are fewer workers coming in. It's that more have gone into construction following the hurricanes," Himrod said, referring to the storms of 2004 and 2005.

Ben McLean, production manager at Uncle Matt's Organic in Clermont, said his company contracts with a harvesting firm that provides the laborers.

"Why worry about it? We will figure it out when it's time to start harvesting," he said.

While organic growers don't have to deal with regulated pesticides since they don't use them, other farmers need to make sure they comply with worker protection and safety standards dealing with all chemicals, said Mike Aerts, assistant director of environmental and pest management at the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association.

"Agricultural worker protection has become a hot-button issue," Aerts told the growers. "This has great attention from the Florida Legislature. The industry needs to pay closer attention to the details."

The legislature recently approved $730,000 in additional funding for the Florida Department of Agriculture to hire eight more field inspectors and two administrators. That will double the inspection capability and enable the division to conduct 1,200 investigations a year, Aerts said.

The Florida Agricultural Worker Safety Act, which was renewed in 2004, carries fines of $250 per worker for agricultural producers who violate pesticide-related regulations, Aerts said. Stricter regulations from both the state and federal governments are expected by the summer of 2007, he said.