It feels a bit like a chicken or the egg situation. Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would issue an order to deal with the effects of his immigration efforts on both the U.S.'s agriculture and hotel industries. So what exactly does this mean for growers and shippers?
"There doesn't seem to be a labor shortage now in the Central Valley or Southern California," says CJ Buxman of Sunny Cal Farms. "We're not affected yet. However, a lot of what is going on is based on fear."
He says there is murkiness on the issue of foreign workers in the U.S. "There's just an overall lack of clarity from the farm worker's standpoint. It's a lack of clarity of messaging that's trickling down to the field and on how to approach the situation," Buxman says.
Social media issues
What is also factoring into these fears is the role of social media. For example, recently, there was a rumour that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid would happen at a citrus packing house in Southern California. "So the workers didn't show up all week, but neither did ICE. So the packing house had to shut down temporarily because labor wasn't covered," says Buxman, adding, though, that the consensus in the industry is that ICE is looking for undocumented workers with some kind of criminal record, not undocumented law-abiding field workers. "The labor is there, but the rumors start, or something shows up on social media, and then there's fear. Then they don't show up, and now we have labor issues. However, it's not because people are getting picked up."
© Sunny Cal FarmsSome labor contractors are handing out the IRLC's Red Cards, which outline the rights and protections under the U.S. Constitution.
While he says workers are showing up because, of course, they have families at home to feed and bills to pay, they are scared. To support their employees, some labor contractors are handing out the Immigrant Legal Resource Center's (IRLC)'s "Red Cards" to workers–cards that outline the rights and protections under the U.S. Constitution and are printed in both English and Spanish.
What next?
There is concern, though, for what lies ahead if mass deportations of undocumented field workers do take place this summer without any protection from Washington. Particularly given that California has highly perishable commodities, the right amount of labor at the right place and time is needed to handle product. "This summer or in the months ahead, will things escalate or will they be fine?" says Buxman.
So what would be needed in terms of an order from Washington? "I think an order would provide clarity for farm workers, labor contractors, and anyone affected," says Buxman.
While there were musings about Washington looking at extending the length of the H-2A program Visas, for California, Buxman isn't sure that solution would be helpful to everyone in the industry. "H-2A programs can be a challenge for many of the specialized commodities that we have in California, particularly for smaller growers. Because it's highly specialized, we need a lot of labor for a very short amount of time, and small growers don't always have full-season programs," he says, adding that the program doesn't always work for smaller or even medium-sized growers because of program requirements around housing, and more. "If you have 8,000 acres, you'll keep H-2A workers busy for a long time. If you have 100 acres, there's no way to guarantee work for longer than you need."
For more information:
CJ Buxman
Sunny Cal Farms
Tel: +1 (559) 270-2287
[email protected]
https://www.sunnycalfarms.com/
