Washington farmers fear labor shortage
KENNEWICK – Each spring Mitch Nickolds drives around Pasco, checking complaints about overcrowded apartment buildings or cars parked on lawns.
This year, his job as city inspection services manager has been pretty quiet. That could spell bad news for area farmers.
Nickolds says apartments and homes that are usually crammed with migrant farmworkers this time of year are empty. He sees few people waiting in line at taco trucks or playing basketball in parks.
He’s seeing even fewer people than last year, when a labor shortage hammered the fruit industry.
“The people who depend on these folks for their livelihood say their business is down,” Nickolds said. “They are crossing their fingers.”
Either the workers are late, or they aren’t coming.
Farmers aren’t waiting to find out for sure. They are signing up labor crews early, increasing wages, building housing to attract migrant workers and even recruiting high school students to work in the fields over summer break.
Last year, thousands of acres of valuable fruit were left to rot because of spring hail damage and a worker shortage. Mike Gempler, Yakima-based executive director of the Washington Growers League, estimated there was a 10 percent to 20 percent shortage of agriculture workers in 2006.
State officials estimate Washington agriculture employs 91,000 people each year.
Farmers who grow delicate fruit and vegetables that need to be hand-picked, like cherries, apples, pears and asparagus, had the most difficulty last year.
They blamed controversy over immigration laws and more patrols along the border.
Farmers doubt the labor situation will improve for this year’s harvest.
School districts across the state have seen their migrant student numbers decline in recent years. There were about 32,000 students classified as migrant in Washington schools in March 2005. That number had shrunk to 24,573 as of this month, said Lee Campos, director of the Migrant Student Data and Recruitment Office in Sunnyside.
One reason for the decrease is that borders are tightening, he said.
Also, “migrant families seem to be settling into communities” and finding work in construction, hospitality or other fields outside agriculture, Campos said.
Alan Schrieber, executive director of the Washington Asparagus Commission, said asparagus growers expect it will cost more this year to get their spears cut.
He said growers expect to pay workers 20 to 22 cents a pound, while last year they paid 18 to 20 cents a pound. Most pickers can earn more than $100 a day picking asparagus, Schrieber said.
Other farmers are building housing in an effort to attract workers.
Zirkle Fruit Co. recently applied for a permit in Yakima County to install eight manufactured homes for seasonal housing this year about a mile south of Wapato. Those would house about 80.
The Washington Growers League and the state are working to sign up Eastern Washington students for field work during summer break.
Last year, the state recruited nearly 200 students from about four Yakima Valley high schools. This year the group plans to recruit even more students.
In Olympia, legislators are working to develop a program to help pay Washington students’ college tuition if they work on a farm during summer break.