Thanks, GWB: Another Blow for Farmers& Vegetarians

[Guest guest]

MSNBC.com

Tight borders leave farms with fewer workers

Crops lie unpicked as farmers watch labor supply dry

up

By Sonya Geis

The Washington Post

Oct 4, 2006

 

CLOVIS, Calif. - Bins of Granny Smith apples towered

over two conveyor belts at P-R Farms' packing plant.

But only one belt moved. P-R Farms, like farms up and

down California and across the nation, does not have

enough workers to process its fruit.

 

" We're short by 50 to 75 people, " said Pat Ricchiuti,

59, the third-generation owner of P-R Farms. " For the

last three weeks, we're running at 50 percent

capacity. We saw this coming a couple years ago, but

last year and this year has really been terrible. "

 

Farmers of all types of specialty crops, from almonds

to roses, have seen the immigrant labor supply they

depend on dry up over the past year. Increased border

security and competition from other industries are

driving migrant laborers out of the fields, farmers

say.

 

Earlier this year, many farmers were optimistic about

finding a solution in the Agricultural Job

Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act, or AgJobs. The

bill, proposed by Sens. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) and

Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), would allow undocumented

agricultural workers already in the United States to

become legal permanent residents and would streamline

the current guest-worker program. In March and

September, hundreds of growers traveled to the Capitol

to lobby for the bill.

 

But deep divisions within the Republican Party have

stalled immigration reform. Although legislation to

build a 700-mile fence along the border passed the

House and Senate, the AgJobs proposal has languished.

 

As the border tightens, Mexican workers who once spent

part of each year in American fields without a work

permit fear that if they go back to Mexico, they will

be trapped behind the border, farmers say. Instead,

they stay in the United States, taking year-round jobs

that pay more and are less backbreaking than farm

work, such as cleaning hotels or working in

construction in cities on the Gulf Coast devastated by

last year's hurricanes.

 

" Frequently you hear, especially from California,

complaints about construction companies actually

recruiting workers from the sides of the fields, " said

Craig Regelbrugge, co-chair of the Agriculture

Coalition for Immigration Reform. Other industries

that depend on immigrant labor, such as landscaping

and construction, " are also concerned about the

overall availability of labor given demographic

trends, " he said, adding: " But agriculture is the

warning sign, if you will, of structural changes in

the economy. "

 

The problem is now reaching crisis proportions, food

growers say. As much as 30 percent of the year's pear

crop was lost in Northern California, growers

estimate. More than one-third of Florida's Valencia

orange crop went unharvested, Regelbrugge said. In New

York, apples are rotting on the trees, because workers

who once picked the fruit have fled frequent raids by

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, said

Maureen Marshall, an apple grower in Elba.

 

Strict enforcement

Michael Keegan, a spokesman for the federal agency,

said he could not confirm any specific targets for

raids. But he said it now takes a more proactive

approach to work-site enforcement, seeking to build

criminal cases against employers instead of issuing

fines. The agency focuses work-site raids on " critical

infrastructure, " he said, such as airports and

chemical plants, including food processing facilities.

 

Critics say increased wages would keep workers in the

fields. Growers contend that their wages, often

minimum wage plus a piece rate, are as high as they

can pay and still remain profitable. Ricchiuti echoed

many growers when he said local people " don't want to

do the work at any price. "

 

Farmers also contend that an existing guest-worker

program is not usable. Although some industries, such

as Maryland crab pickers, rely on the H-2B program to

provide foreign labor, farmers argue that the

equivalent program for agriculture, known as H-2A, is

too complex and has onerous requirements, such as

providing housing for workers. Nationwide, only 2

percent of agricultural workers use H-2A visas,

Regelbrugge said.

 

" We explored [H-2A], and it was so cumbersome, it just

would not meet our needs, " said Ricchiuti of P-R

Farms, who grows apples, nectarines, nuts and grapes

in California's fertile San Joaquin Valley. " It's so

specific; you agree to hire so many people at this

time. What if the season is two weeks late? I have to

have work for them. Or pay them to do nothing. "

 

Some farmers said they have invested in machines to

take the place of workers, though some tasks, such as

picking soft fruit, cannot be mechanized.

 

Others are worrying about credit. In August, Tom

Brown, president and chief executive of Fresno Madera

Farm Credit bank in California, testified at an

immigration forum hosted by Rep. George Radanovich

(R-Calif.) that he was worried about the impact of the

labor shortage on farmers' ability to repay loans.

 

Frustrations with GOP

Some food growers, who as a group tend to vote

Republican, now find themselves fighting hardest

against leaders in their own party.

 

" So many of the farmers here are conservative, but

they're finding themselves kind of at odds, not so

much with Republicans in this area but with

Republicans on the East Coast who have no idea what's

going on in the San Joaquin Valley and California, "

said Daniel Jackson, a California fruit grower.

" Something could happen in Washington, D.C., tomorrow,

and all the farmers in the San Joaquin Valley would be

out of work. "

 

Ricchiuti has a framed photo of President Bush and

first lady Laura Bush on his office wall and a pile of

" Re-Elect Arnold " signs supporting Gov. Arnold

Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) at his processing plant. But

he grew agitated when he talked about the GOP's

handling of immigration.

 

" What's wrong with the Republican leadership? " he

demanded. " They control the House and the Senate. I

would have thought it would be a slam-dunk.

 

" Certain Republicans are very closed-minded, " he

continued. " They're prejudiced, and they're concerned

about people taking their jobs. Well, you know what?

You won't do those jobs. You might stick your head up

the grapevine once or twice, but you won't do it a

third time. "

 

Hopes for the AgJobs bill are now on hold until after

the midterm elections, said Barry Bedwell, president

of the California Grape and Tree Fruit League. Bedwell

has made four trips already this year to Washington to

lobby for immigration reform.

 

" Even from our best friends and allies in the San

Joaquin Valley on the Republican side, they were

saying, yes, they understand. But they were trying to

explain the political reality of an election year, " he

said. " Boy, I will be happy to get by the election,

where we can start talking reason. "

 

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

 

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15123111/

© 2006 MSNBC.com