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Ag laborers have weathered the cherry season, experts say
By
Rochelle Feil Adamowsky
“The
Washington cherry crop was down about 40 percent from a year ago and the
harvest ended up starting a little bit later than usual, so the need for
labor through the course of the season was obviously down from the
previous year,” said Kirk Mayer, manager of Washington Growers Clearing
House.
“For the
most part, we had an excellent supply of labor,” he added.
July’s
agricultural employment numbers were down by 8.2 percent from last July,
said Mark Barreth, regional labor economist for the state Employment
Security Department. Last year, the cherry industry experienced a
record-breaking crop. Barreth said the decrease in employment numbers
doesn’t equate to a labor shortage. He added that word travels among
agricultural workers about weather patterns, and the size and timing of
harvest.
A small crop
didn’t appear to affect wages for agricultural laborers who often get
paid on a piece-by-piece basis. “It’s been very similar to the past,”
said Barreth of farmworker wages.
The delayed
harvest may positively affect apple and pear sizes this fall. “We have a
professional work force on cherries that are highly specialized to
harvest cherries,” Mayer said. “A number of them did thin for a while;
growers appreciated that and were able to get ahead on their thinning.”
The earlier
thinning should make apples and pears larger, Mayer said. In addition to
thinning, cherry pickers worked on orchard maintenance — mowing, and
irrigation and ladder upkeep — while waiting for the cherries to ripen.
For growers
who had a good number of high-quality and well-sized cherries, this
year’s cherry prices should help ease the pain after two years of
losses, Mayer said. Bing cherry sales averaged $39.95 per 20-pound box
this year compared with $26.26 last year. Rainier cherries averaged
$39.68 per 15-pound box compared with $33.49 last year.
“I think it
was a good crop. We had larger-than-usual cherries and the market was
pretty strong most of the season,” Mayer said.
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