Tighter controls of border crossings between the U.S. and Mexico have led to a shortage of strawberry pickers in Oregon, leaving some of the prized berries to rot on the vines during prime picking weeks.
Earlier this week, an emergency plea for strawberry pickers was issued by the Oregon Employment Department. It's the latest trouble for an industry already coping with rising labor costs, a decline in strawberry processors and the increasing domination by California growers.
"We're losing the first picking," said Juan Diego Sanchez, a labor supervisor on a 75 acres farm outside of Woodburn. "We're behind because there's not enough people."
| So pay people more and they'll come out to pick the berries. That's how capitalism works. |
The optimum amount of workers is 550 to tend the field, Sanchez said. On Wednesday, he had 330.
Traditional seasonal workers from south of the border have not shown up this year, said Daniel Quiones, the migrant seasonal farm workers representative from the Oregon Employment Department. "There's just not as many people," he said. "There's fear about crossing the border and insecurity because of the Minuteman Project."
| Translation: he's admitting that his industry needs illegals to survive. |
The Minuteman Project involved civilian volunteers who patroled the U.S.-Mexico border this spring by ground and air, looking for illegal immigrants. Since then, the Department of Homeland Security has beefed up the border with thousands of Border Patrol agents and doubled the amount of aircraft over the international boundary.
In Oregon, farmers and labor contractors said the government needs to start up a temporary worker program.
| Or you could pay your workers more. |
Independent labor contractor Arnulfo Sandoval Perez told The Statesman-Journal of Salem that some strawberry farmers are losing $10,000 per day.
| Which causes them to whine to gummint, instead of raising the pay and finding new workers. |
And using machines to pick the tender fruit is not an option "as long as people want quality, hand-picked strawberries," Sandoval said. He also said that when the cherry season gets under way later this month, most of the strawberry pickers will opt for cherry picking because the job does not involve the bending or crouching required to pluck the vines.
Jim Ludwick, president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, said he felt sorry for the farmers, but that the situation does not justify more immigration to the state. Instead of clamoring for the cheap labor, farmers should be lobbying Oregon legislators to remove the restrictions on children working the fields, Ludwick said."A number of years ago, those strawberries would have been picked by Oregon school children," he said.
Quiones said children between the ages of 12 and 16 are allowed to work in agriculture, so long as they are accompanied by an adult. Farmers pay between 18 cents and 25 cents per pound to pick strawberries. They sell the fruit to canneries for 47 cents per pound. Veteran pickers can collect up to 100 pounds an hour, fetching an hourly rate of $20, Quiones said.
Some farmers, concerned with losing their entire harvest, have started "people sharing" with other farmers so at least part of their crop gets picked, he said.
And thus the whole "cheap" labor system starts to break down.
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