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livingontheland - [Livingontheland] Better get those tomatoes planted

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  • From: Liz <liz@allslash.org>
  • To: lIvingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Better get those tomatoes planted
  • Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:34:59 -0400

Not making a statement about immigrant labor, just passing on info about a likely shortage of fresh tomatoes in the stores.

This is excerpted--the original is at http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jLcw2uB74fh2WVfW9hUsryKDFUrwD8VK1T480

Major Grower Ends Crop, Lacking Workers

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM – 4 days ago

CLARKS SUMMIT, Pa. (AP) ­ Saying the nation's immigration system is broken, Pennsylvania's largest grower of fresh-to-market tomatoes announced Monday he will no longer produce the crop because he can't find enough workers to harvest it.

Keith Eckel, 61, a fourth-generation farmer and the owner of Fred W. Eckel Sons Farms Inc., said he saw a dramatic decline last summer in the number of migrant workers who showed up to pick tomatoes at his 2,000-acre farm in northeastern Pennsylvania.

He said Congress' failure to approve comprehensive immigration reform had hindered his ability to hire enough workers to get his crop to the market. Most of Eckel's workers came from Mexico.

"There are a number of workers hesitant to travel, legal or illegal, because of the scrutiny they are now under," said Eckel, whose tomatoes have been shipped to supermarkets and restaurants throughout the eastern United States. "So there are less workers crossing state lines."

Eckel, who planted 2.2 million tomato plants last year, said he also will stop growing pumpkins and will plant half as much sweet corn as usual, resulting in a loss of nearly 175 jobs.

Eckel, one of the largest growers of fresh tomatoes in the Northeast, said it cost him $1.5 million to $2 million to plant and harvest a tomato crop ­ too much of an investment to risk not having enough workers at harvest time.



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