Survey Reaffirms Good Vineyard Workers Are Hard To Find
July 25, 2023 
Growers will need all the labor they can find this year for picking wine grapes, such as from this ‘Alicante’ vineyard in the Lodi, CA, region. (Photo by David Eddy)
Among fruit growers, wine grape growers have always led the pack when it comes to mechanization. Being able to pick without worrying about minor damage to the fruit is obviously a huge advantage, although many in the industry — especially vintners — argue there is no substitute for hand-picked fruit.
The hand-labor advocates are dwindling, however, as workers get increasingly scarce and/or expensive, according to results from the American Fruit Grower State of the Industry survey. Asked what they are doing in the face of labor shortages and/or rising costs, several growers actually answer with just the one word, “Mechanization.” It was by far the most common answer in one form or another.
There is a lot of looking around going on when it comes to precision agriculture, from “Looking to mechanization where feasible” to “Looking for ways to find efficiencies and increase automation,” say a couple of growers from Washington and California, respectively. Some growers are afraid they cannot continue in the face of increasing shortages.
“We’re not dealing well at all; labor is not available generally, and when it is, it costs $18+ per hour,” says one California grower. “Weeds are skyscrapers this year. It’s not going to be easy.”
THE ANSWER: MECHANIZATION
If not shortages, many growers cite the cost of labor as a serious problem.
“We have not had problems with shortages,” says one California grower, “we’ve had to decrease overtime pay to deal with rising costs.”
Another California grower: “So far, so good as far as availability of labor; however, labor costs are going through the roof, elevating tasks such as leaf pulling and branch tipping.”
Wine grape growers, with a much easier transition to mechanical solutions, are far more bullish about the future than growers of other types of grapes. In fact, fully 45% of wine grape growers plan to increase production this year, with another 42% holding steady with the status quo.
“We pay higher rates but use technology and training to improve efficiency,” notes one California grower.
And another, this one from Colorado: “We’re transitioning to machine harvesting, in addition to the mechanical pre-pruning, suckering, and hedging.”
PARTING WORDS
One grower from New York notes they are getting back to basics, re-examining specific tasks on the farm, and “carefully examining work we can do on our own vs. needing to hire out, looking for more local contracts as opposed to needing to truck grapes farther from the farm.”
Finally, there are always a few “practical” messages from growers responding to the survey, and this year was no exception when it came to dealing with increasing labor costs/shortages: “Keep only the fast workers employed,” says one. Or this: “THE BEST YOU CAN.”
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