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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Ranks of farm workers swell amid faltering economy
  • Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:18:27 -0700



California: Farmers back in business
Ranks of farm workers swell amid faltering economy
2/10/2009 -
Jerry Hirsch | Los Angeles Times
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Business/California-Back-in-Business


What a difference a bad economy makes. The collapse of the construction
industry and a slump in the restaurant and food service sector have sent
thousands of people back to looking for work on California farms, which not
so long ago were hurting for workers.

"We have had no trouble getting workers for the winter vegetable harvest,"
said Jon Vessey, who farms 7,000 acres near El Centro, Calif. "There is a
bigger supply of labor this year than last year or the year before."

Labor experts, union officials and farmers themselves say they are seeing
this happening across the state.

Before the recession, Vessey's operation was a prime example of a growing
shortage of agricultural workers in the state's coastal plans and inland
valleys, which had seen farmworkers leave by the thousands for better jobs
in the city.

Three years ago, things were so bad that Vessey posted openings for 300
temporary workers at the state Employment Development Department in
Calexico, near the Mexican border. One person showed up, and he lasted just
half a day working the fields.

At the time, farm interests held up Vessey's experience as evidence of how
badly the nation needed both a guest-worker program and a way for illegal
immigrants to gain legal status.

Whether there was a true shortage is still a matter of debate. The lack of
workers could have been due to a reluctance by farmers to raise wages
enough to persuade people to do farm work, said Phil Martin, a University
of California, Davis, farm labor economist. "You can't talk about need or
shortage without talking about wages," Martin said.

Farmers and agribusiness interests generally say they can't afford to pay
much more than the minimum wage because of international competition,
Martin said.

"So what happens is that people move on to higher-paying jobs," he said.
"Farm labor is a job, not a career. When people have other options, they
get out of farm work. Construction is a frequent first step up the job
ladder," Martin said.

The lack of workers a few years ago was most acute in border areas such as
the Imperial Valley and Yuma, Ariz.

"That had a lot to do with the Border Patrol ramping up sharply. If you
were illegal and got across with false documents, you would get away from
the border area very quickly," Martin said.

Even so, farming continued in those regions, he said. "I don't think a lack
of labor ever prevented people from planting crops if they thought there
was a market for what they were producing."

The recession has ended the debate for now.

"A lot of people who lost their jobs have come back into farming from the
construction industry and food service," said Tom Nassif, chief executive
of the Western Growers Association, whose members farm and pack about 90
percent of the produce and nuts grown in California.

California's jobless rate rose to 9.3 in December, and construction was one
of the industries hardest hit, according to the state Employment
Development Department.

Construction jobs fell 10.8 percent, or almost 93,000 jobs, from December
2007. During the same period, agriculture employment rose by 2,000 jobs, or
0.5 percent.

In the restaurant industry, the need for servers, cooks and dishwashers has
declined as many chains are reporting year-over-year sales declines of 5
percent in restaurants open a year or more. As they are laid off, some of
these workers head back to the farm.

Farmers also need fewer workers this year, Vessey said.

"There are less planted vegetables than we have had in the past," he said.
"Farmers have cut back because of the recession and because of the
drought." Growers are reluctant to plant if they aren't sure they will have
enough water to grow their crops, he said.

Other farmers also report an adequate supply of workers. Bart Fisher is in
the middle of harvesting about 1,500 acres of broccoli and iceberg lettuce
in eastern Riverside County and said he had enough workers.

Farther north, in Yolo and Sutter counties, Charlie Hoppin is turning away
workers.

"I feel bad I can't hire more," Hoppin said, adding that there was a good
supply of equipment operators who had lost jobs grading housing
developments and in other construction projects.

"We are also finding that the people who are working for us are more
stable. There are fewer absences, and they work hard and are reliable,"
said Hoppin, who farms about 3,000 acres of melons, rice, wheat and corn.

Many farmers still believe that Congress needs to pass an immigration
reform bill that addresses their concerns.

"The underlying problem remains unresolved, especially for Mexican citizens
who work here," Fisher said.

Organizers for the United Farm Workers of America union also report a
plentiful supply of workers on farms now. The problem is that they are not
documented, said Maria Machuca, the union's spokeswoman.

"What is the point of bringing more people here to do work when there are
already people here, able and willing" to do farm work? she said. "They
just don't have documentation."

The farmworkers union objected to the recent push by farm groups to prompt
the outgoing Bush administration to change the rules of the current guest
worker, or H-2A, program. The changes were approved just before the change
in administrations.

The new rules relax the process growers use to prove they tried to obtain
documented workers.

The union is pushing for the AgJOBS bill, proposed legislation supported
also by farm interests, which Congress has previously debated but never
passed. It would provide a way for undocumented workers to gain legal
status as long as they continue to work in agriculture for a time.

Vessey said he was frustrated with how agriculture gets tarnished for its
reliance on undocumented workers while other industries in boom times are
just as reliant on the same work force.

"They just refuse to talk about it," Vessey said. "We still have a
predominantly illegal work force, and we want a legal work force. We can
get that through immigration reform."









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