There’s No Simple Solution for Ag Labor
May 8, 2018 Headlines across the U.S. speak to the subject of labor and, more succinctly, farm workers and agricultural employees. Congress’ inability to create a solution path makes headlines. President Trump’s declarations make headlines. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and results make headlines. All the while the selection, quality, and price of fresh fruits and vegetables are taken for granted. No headlines there because food has always been available.
The individuals harvesting and packing citrus are team members who have been employed for one season, or 40 consecutive seasons, and seasons in between. They work for an hourly wage that exceeds minimum by far. They are individuals who now own acreage and sit on policy-making boards. They are individuals who, at one time, participated in packing the fruit but now run the computers and manage the technology that is a component of the business.
The numbers harvesting fruit are down, and the individuals are older. Field crews are smaller in number, which is a result of border security measures and, primarily, other opportunities in Mexico. Yet the fruit gets picked with skill and efficiencies.
On average, our industry needs to harvest more than 200 million cartons of fruit and requires around 12,000 individuals to do it. Those who have done it are legal and illegal guest workers. I would guess the majority are in the latter category.
More than Just Workers
Those packing the fruit — or better stated, working in the packinghouses — number better than 6,000. Most have been with the industry for five years or longer. Most have homes, children in schools, pay their taxes, and receive employee benefits just like employees in other business sectors. I would guess some are here without proper papers.
They have learned a trade. They are learning a new skill, and they are earning more money and now have assets. They are employees, landowners, friends, and neighbors. Thus, the citrus industry is vitally concerned and involved in seeking a political and economic solution to the illegal immigrant issue.
Mechanical harvesting is not in our immediate future. The skills necessary to harvest fruit are not easily obtainable. Try harvesting an orange, a mandarin, or a lemon. The lemons fight back, and I have the scratches and cuts to prove it. Of course, I am not skilled. And machines don’t run themselves. They have to be monitored, set, and reset to determine size, quality, and flavor.
Help Wanted
A few years ago, California Citrus Mutual (CCM) experimented with the H-2A program on behalf of the industry. The first step is determining local interest in filling a job position. After weeks of advertising and working with local firms, less than a handful stepped forward.
Our test did not go as well as expected, but we did learn a lot. Today a few employers are testing the effort on their own. It is a bureaucratic pain, an expensive effort, and one fraught with the constant need to train and retrain.
Our employers are doing this because we need people. Our needs peak October thru May, albeit we harvest and pack 10 months out of the year. We are one of the few ag industries that offer full-time employment in the wintertime. Thus, the impacts felt by others for a number of years are just now penetrating our industry.
The labor situation in the California citrus industry is manageable. It could be better, but the trend lines are not positive in the existing climate. Wages and benefits are good. The potential for growth individually is positive.
CCM believes those presently working here need a pathway to become a legal part of the workplace. This does not mean citizenship unless it is desired. It means the men, women, and children who are giving to society need to become part of it without fear of retaliation for a mistake.
It means individuals desiring to work be given a legitimate path to come across the border and then an obligation to go home. The provision called “touchback” is necessary, but so is a provision eliminating the vulnerability of those with lives in the industry created after years of hard work.
It should be that simple. But it’s not, unfortunately. Consumers don’t eat an orange in one bite; they enjoy it in segments. Those currently in public policy believe we need to choke on the whole orange. Meanwhile, the fruit gets harvested and packed with fewer numbers and more potential than ever.
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