Nov 19, 2024

Ag Labor Review: Candid discussions regarding ag labor dilemmas

I called a friend in California the other evening. As soon as he picked up, I could tell that I had roused him from slumber. 

When I asked him what was going on, he told me that he had been asleep because they were going to start picking winegrapes that night. He told me the grapes were coming quick, but the crop wasn’t quite as heavy as last year. Fruit quality, however, was exceptional.

Overall, he and his wife could have a pretty good year. But he was worried he would not have enough workers to pick his Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. His buyer wouldn’t agree to letting him machine harvest the fruit because the machines weren’t as discerning as human touch.

I knew that their vineyard had never used the H-2A program for temporary workers, and I asked whether he had considered that, and although he had it wasn’t necessary in the past. Usually they could recruit and hire enough locally. 

Some previous workers were now in their mid-70’s and had decided it was too much work. Plus, the new California rule related to ag overtime affects the workers — they know they wouldn’t make as much money because of being sent home once they reached the overtime limit.

He had also heard from some of his neighbors that the cost of the H-2A program was out of control, and that regulators just keep on piling more requirements into the program.

Not only did my friend have to pay for the visas, transportation into and out of the country and three meals a day or convenient cooking facilities, and a wage that was nowhere near what the market was — but they would have to house the workers, too.

For Sonoma County housing, open ground would be $100,000 per acre or more. A neighbor who tried building housing for his workers seeking a conditional use permit was blocked by city folk opposing farmworkers in their community. 

Though a farmworker housing grant program passed by the legislature could help, unions forced the legislature to assure the money could not be used to construct housing for H-2A temporary workers. The neighbor also mentioned lawmakers bought the union’s spiel that H-2As were taking jobs from domestic workers. If that was the case, why hadn’t any of those domestic workers applied for the advertised jobs?

I shared with my friend that his story is one I’ve heard around the country, although his is one with several California anti-farmer twists. I recommended he take a few minutes to call his members of Congress and Senators to let them know that agriculture could use some help with labor.

Despite my call awakening him and getting him all riled up, my friend told me he was happy I called, would contact his lawmakers and thanked me for praying for him. Maybe he could make it another year.

— Michael Marsh has led the National Council of Agricultural Employers since 2017. A Wyoming native and certified public accountant, Marsh worked for a CPA firm with farm and ranch clients investigating fraud. He was director of finance for the Almond Board of California for 7 years and was CEO of the largest U.S. dairy producer trade association for 15 years.