TRI-CITY (Washington) HERALD

March 24, 2009

Winter farm labor supply in Mid-Columbia may dry up

Ingrid Stegemoeller, Herald staff writer

Plenty of workers were available for winter farm jobs as those laid off from construction and other industries looked to agriculture for employment.

But uncertainties with the economy, the weather and immigration policy mean industry officials aren't sure the steady labor supply will last.

"We can't predict now the availability for harvest, but during the course of the winter we've had adequate labor and it appears that there's been a movement of some people from service jobs and construction to ag jobs," said Kent Waliser, general manager at Sagemoor in Pasco.

"How long that lasts ... I don't know."

Broetje Orchards near Prescott experienced a similar situation.

"With the economy the way it is, we're seeing a lot more people looking for work than we have in the past two years," said Joe Shelton, orchard manager. "We're getting a lot of guys coming back that were working construction."

The orchard needs about 1,500 pickers at the peak of harvest, he said.

Between Wenatchee, Yakima and the Tri-Cities, about 50,000 seasonal farm workers will be needed for the harvests, said Dean Schau, regional labor economist for the state.

He said February was one of the best he can remember for farm worker employment.

Agricultural work employed an estimated 8,300 people in the Tri-Cities in February, Schau said.

That's compared with about 6,840 in January and more than 8,220 in February 2008, he said.

Growers sometimes even had to turn away job applicants this winter, said Jose Sifuentez, ag services outreach specialist with WorkSource.

"From what we're seeing now, there may be a sufficient force," he said,

The size of the work force needed this season likely will be similar to last year for most tree fruits, said Kirk Mayer, manager of the Washington Growers Clearing House Association.

Cherry pickers may be in higher demand than they were in 2008 if the weather holds out, he added, because cold weather damaged much of last year's crop.

But better unemployment benefits may mean those without jobs aren't as driven to find work, Mayer said.

"An unemployed person in one field may decide not to seek work in agriculture," he said.

Immigration policies continue to be a concern to most people in the ag industry.

One federal program, known as H-2A, allows agricultural producers to bring foreign workers into the country temporarily if not enough domestic workers are available.

The U.S. Department of Labor recently proposed a suspension of rules made official in January.

Those rules increased the amount of recruiting producers had to do of domestic workers, clarified who paid certain fees and changed the farm worker wage to the market rate, said Dan Fazio, director of employer services for the Washington Farm Bureau.

"Because many stakeholders have raised concerns about the H-2A regulations, this proposed suspension is the prudent and responsible action to take," Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said in a statement. "Suspending the rule would allow the department to review and reconsider the regulation while minimizing disruption to state work force agencies, employers and workers."

But the suspension has caused much confusion as to the status of H-2A applications that already have been submitted this year, Fazio said.

He called the Labor Department's actions "unhelpful at best."

"We are crying out to the government to help us get a legal and stable work force," he said. "We're at a state in our country that people don't have to be migrant workers anymore. People want to ... be college educated and get a 9 to 5 job. And that's great. But we can either get a work force from people who want to do that work or we can buy our fresh fruits and veggies from Chile and China."

Use of the program has been growing, although only about 2,000 workers come to Washington through H-2A, Mayer said.

In 2007, the latest information available from the labor department, almost 1,700 workers were approved through the program in Washington state, according to the department's website.

In the meantime, producers such as Eltopia's Alan Schreiber are "cautiously optimistic" about the season's work force.

"It's too soon to tell on labor," he said, adding his farm's had enough workers so far but full seasonal demand is still ahead.