NAPA VALLEY (California) REGISTER

November 30, 2009

The off season

Occupancy rates down slightly at farm camp from 2008

By CARLOS VILLATORO
Register Staff Writer

The parking lot at River Ranch Farmworker Center in St. Helena is mostly empty during the afternoons while center residents work in the vineyards, but that wasn’t the case on a recent rainy Friday.

Harvest is over and not much work is to be had.

Despite the lull in employment, some of the men have remained at the camp until pruning begins in January. It’s these men who account for the occupancy levels at the county’s three farmworker centers, of which only River Ranch remains open during the holidays. On Aug. 20 the occupancy level at River Ranch was at 63 percent — 38 of its 60 beds were filled — according to Nancy Johnson, Housing and Community Development Coordinator for the county.

This time last year, occupancy levels at the farmworker centers reached 70 percent. In December they were just lower than that. But the economy has slowed, the harvest is over and many skilled farmworkers have found themselves competing for jobs with people who have never done vineyard work, Johnson said.

“We’ve seen a big influx of people who don’t normally work in the fields,” Johnson said.

Johnson said she expected the occupancy levels at the camp to be low this time of year — mostly due to the economy and the normal slowdown after harvest. In response the county closed its Mondavi and Calistoga Farmworker Centers back in October.

“The last two years we have left one center open in December,” she said.

Meanwhile, the 38 men who live at River Ranch are making do with the little work they can find in November and December. This year’s harvest went especially well for 24-year-old Alfredo Torres, he said. Torres, who works for a local vineyard management outfit, made enough during the summer to hold him over until after the holidays.

Many vineyard crews went into overtime as growers tried to beat a nasty mid-October rainstorm.

On Friday, Torres played cards at the center with Omar Gutierrez, 38, who said it’s been nearly a month since he had worked. But like his card partner, Gutierrez said he made enough during the summer to stay at the camp.

The alternatives to staying at the camp can include staying in a crowded apartment or garage or sleeping in a vehicle — none of which are appealing to the two men, they said.

“It’s more comfortable (at the center),” Gutierrez said.

To be allowed at the camp, residents must prove that they are primarily agricultural workers. They must also follow rules imposed by the county that include no alcohol, drugs, gambling or loud noise.

The men pay $12 a day for lodging as well as three meals a day, except on Sundays. Rent is collected 30 days after an individual checks into the center.

County officials bumped up the cost of staying at the camp this year from $11.75 to $12 a night “mostly because of the expense in running the facility (has) increased,” Johnson said.

“The state took over the water systems (the) testing and notification process is really intense,” Johnson said, adding that the water costs $65,000 a year.

In addition, the cost of utilities has gone up. Johnson said that the county does not want to go above the $12 a night fee for staying at the centers, as it may deter farm laborers from going there.

For residents such as Torres and Gutierrez, the $12 price tag is not high “as long as they are working,” they said. The cost of running the centers is divided among the cities of American Canyon. St. Helena, Calistoga and Yountville that each contribute $10,000 a year, a grant from Auction Napa Valley that yielded $100,000 this year, the grapegrowers who tax themselves $10 per crop-producing acre they own, and a Cinco de Mayo Golf Tournament that brings in thousands of dollars towards the centers.

Johnson said that the county has been on a marketing campaign to get the word out about the centers that includes buying radio advertising. But at the same time she said that the strongest form of advertising for the centers has been through word-of-mouth. She said she expects the occupancy levels at the centers to increase in January.

The farmworker centers are managed by California Human Development Corporation.