ONTARIO

For one local plum grower, the help is virtually nonexistence and it may mean part of his crop will go to the birds.

Walt Garman's 9-acre plum orchard has been in Payette County off Washoe Road for generations, and he said this could be the first year some of the fruit ripens too much to be packed. Right now, Garman has about six pickers working to harvest the plums. Usually, he said he would have about 20 pickers during this time.

“It might be the year I might not get the plot picked,” Garman said. “I should be picking 50 bins (a day) and I'm picking 15.”

There are many factors that have diverted the labor force, Garman said, from available laborers working in onion packing sheds to the workforce taking other jobs in construction and service industries. Kelly Henggeler - manager/owner of Henggeler Packing Co. in Fruitland - said even though it appears most growers have adequate help, they are not receiving workers with fruit harvesting experience. Henggeler's reasons for labor shortages were in line with Garman's, plus he said the stringent border enforcement has stifled the usual workforce from coming up for the harvest.

“The government has addressed enforcement issues on the border, and folks that came up to harvest are not coming across the border,” he said. “And with the boom in construction we've seen, some folks that used to work for the harvest are now working construction.”

A guest worker program would help, Henggeler said, and he hopes Congress continues to work toward realistic immigration policies. Also, the unemployment rate in the area is very low, and even though that is a good sign, Henggeler said it causes struggles in agriculture. Even the packing shed has grappled with crew shortages, he said.

“We need a guest worker program, where they do the activities and then go through the process where they go back home,” Henggeler said. “There is no reason why that can't work.”

Fruit harvesting has a very narrow window for producing supermarket-quality fruit, Henggeler said. Each fruit has a peak time when it is at its best, he said, and if it is not picked in time orchard owners have to walk away from it.

Garman said Wednesday he was not even halfway through the plum harvest, and having it done by the weekend is not looking likely. If the weather cools down in the next couple days, he said the harvest may be able to continue through the beginning of next week. If not, he may not even make enough to cover his expenses throughout the year.

“I might end up losing half of the crop,” Garman said. “I'm looking at some of the fruit to drop on the ground because it is too ripe to get picked and packed.”