I went to Fenn Valley Vineyards & Wine Cellar with some friends a couple of weeks ago. The point of the visit was pleasure, not business, and the Fennville, Mich., winery certainly knows how to give its visitors a pleasurable experience.

I like to think my job has taught me a few things about marketing and agritourism, but I have to admit I got suckered into paying just as much money as everybody else.

It started with the tour. At $8 per person, it was a darn good deal. We were pulled along in a tractor-drawn wagon and shown different parts of the vineyard. The tour lasted maybe two hours (luckily, it was a beautiful day). Our tour guide, a winemaker, did a nice job of explaining the process of growing grapes and turning them into wine. He even let us sample some grapes right off the vine – and gave us plenty of free wine samples.

At the beginning of the tour, each passenger was given a small wine glass with a $5-off coupon tucked inside it. At first glance this seemed like a good deal, but when I read the fine print, I saw that in order to use the coupon you had to buy at least three bottles of wine.

“All right guys,” I said to myself, “I see what you’re trying to do, and it’s not going to work. I’m going to buy two bottles of wine after the tour, and that’s it.”

The tour ended and we walked into the store, a bit lubed up from the free samples. Suddenly, I realized two bottles wouldn’t be enough. We had sampled so many different kinds of wine (red, white, dry, sweet, mulled, dessert) that we had to buy at least three bottles to re-capture the diversity. And, we didn’t have to feel guilty about spending too much money because we would save ourselves $5 by using the coupon!

Nicely done, Fenn Valley. You guys know what you’re doing.

Frank Gasperini
Executive Director, National Council of Agricultural Employers

Frank Gasperini has had a busy first year as executive director of the National Council of Agricultural Employers. So much has been going on in the realm of ag labor that it’s been hard to keep track of it all. I e-mailed him some questions last week, hoping he could help me make sense of the latest developments. His answers are below.

There’s been a lot of back-and-forth lately regarding the status of the H-2A program’s rules. Can you tell us about the latest development?
The latest proposal is a return to 2008 rules with harsher penalties and additional paperwork added. My overall assessment is that the new (2009) rule proposal makes an already difficult and costly program even more complicated and costly and may discourage users, particularly smaller operations. NCAE members are sharing information and working together to respond. We will be ready to submit public comment by the Oct. 5 deadline. The 2009 proposal emphasizes the need for clear legislative policy, as proposed in AgJOBS, to return the Agricultural Temporary Guest Worker program to its original intent of helping to assure farmers have a stable and reliable workforce. The 2009 rule change proposals are very disappointing.

Last we heard, the Obama administration had withdrawn the “no-match” rule. So, can growers stop worrying about their employees’ Social Security numbers?
NCAE filed public comments supporting the ICE plan to rescind the “no-match” rule, however, we have asked for ICE to issue a final rule of rescission that makes unmistakably clear to employers and workers that Social Security no-match letters either will not be issued, or if they are, employers are prohibited from using them as an immigration compliance document. We are concerned that without more clarification, we will return to the confusion of the past, along with discrimination lawsuits and potential Privacy Act violations.

Now that the E-Verify rules have gone into effect, what does that mean for agricultural employers?
Because most agricultural products are exempted, most agricultural employers will see little difference because of the federal mandate. Some state and local governments are passing E-Verify use requirements that may not include exemptions and could impact ag employers.

If major changes are made to the U.S. health care system, what impact might that have on employers, such as growers, who hire immigrant labor?
NCAE started following the health care/insurance reform debate in early 2009 because it is likely to have tremendous effect on ag employers. Regardless of what you think of the overall idea of reform, it seems increasingly likely there will be some form of employer mandate attached. Either the employer will have to provide insurance, or pay some fee/tax into the system for each employee. Concerns for ag employers include the fact the entire model seems to assume that everyone works full time, year round, in a fixed location like an office or factory. There is no proposal, or current vision, on how to account for temporary/seasonal workers who are very transient. The Senate bill exemption only impacts a small portion of growers. As you know, there is also great controversy over coverage of undocumented, or guest workers, with current proposals to exclude them from coverage, even though the employer may be required to pay.

What about comprehensive immigration reform? Is there any chance of that passing this year? AgJOBS?
Although we remain hopeful, with the health care debate, continuing economic issues and decisions about Afghanistan looming in Washington, we expect the earliest anything can happen is spring of 2010 on both issues. It is likely comprehensive immigration reform will have to be attempted first.

Is there anything else going on at the federal level growers need to know about?
Overall, it appears immigration enforcement and pressure on the employer to be the “police” will continue and grow. The issue of positive ID, including biometric identifiers, will be part of any comprehensive immigration reform discussion, possibly health reform, and in discussions of the future of E-Verify when its funding expires at the end of September 2009.

Events Calendar

Oct. 2-5, 2009
PMA Fresh Summit
Anaheim, Calif.
Contact: Produce Marketing Association
Phone: 302-738-7100
Website: www.pma.com/freshsummit

Oct. 27-29, 2009
Training For Recall, Communicating Under Fire
West Palm Beach, Fla.
Contact: United Fresh Research & Education Foundation
Website: www.unitedfresh.org/programs/recall

Oct. 28, 2009
2009 Florida Ag Expo
University of Florida/IFAS Gulf Coast Research & Education Center, Balm, Fla.
Phone: 813-634-0000

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