Labor shortage hindering harvest
Advocates blame raids, call immigration system broken
Omar Ornelas, The Desert Sun
An Important Crop
Grapes are one of the Coachella Valley’s most crucial crops, accounting for about a fifth of the agriculture revenue.
"It’s a lot shorter this year than any other year," said Omar Mohamed, owner of OM Contracting in Thermal. "There’s not enough people."
This season, which is expected to be better than last year, crews will likely work longer hours and on weekends. An estimated 15,000 migrant farmworkers each year work the grape harvest in the Coachella Valley.
And the shortage goes beyond the valley.
"It’s bigger than Coachella," said Lauro Barajas, United Farm Workers’ regional director in Oxnard. "And I think it’s going to (get) worse."
The UFW in Coachella closed in December. As a regional director, Barajas now oversees the valley.
Oxnard and Salinas also have experienced worker shortages. Earlier this year, labor shortages forced strawberry growers to send their produce to canneries instead of market, at a financial loss, because workers could not be pick the field fast enough, he said.
Grape harvest hasn’t hit full stride yet and already Mohamed is turning away the business of farms that are unable to hire enough hands.
Farms Mohamed has never worked with before are calling asking for workers, too, he said.
Some blamed stalled immigration reform.
"I think the remedy is legislation that can provide documents and ways to work it out," Barajas said. "The problem is the system that Mexico and the United States have created.
"The growers, they’re in trouble."
Some say reform can help
Although Congress is discussing immigration reform this spring, advocates for a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States fear the legislation could stall again as the presidential campaign heats up.
Rep. Mary Bono, R-Palm Springs, supported AgJOBS, which would increase the number of agriculture visas.
"Congresswoman Bono has consistently supported the need for a non-amnesty temporary guest worker program that can be properly managed to address legitimate national security concerns and ensure a stable work force for our local businesses," said Jason Vasquez, Bono’s communication director.
Bono also co-sponsored last year’s enforcement-only immigration bill that divided the Republican Party and the country, leading to marches nationwide.
Others blamed the labor shortage on last week’s immigration raids in the Coachella Valley that arrested 39 people.
"We’ve never been (un)able to get people before," said Christy Porter, executive director of Hidden Harvest, a nonprofit that needs workers to pick surplus produce to feed the needy.
An estimated 233,000 undocumented immigrants live in Riverside County. It is unclear how many live in the Coachella Valley. A national study last year found undocumented workers account for 25 percent of those working in the agriculture industry. Locally, that number is believed to be much higher.
"You can’t get them to say that, but this is what they fear the most," Porter said of the raids. "They work with one eye on the road."
Posted by: NOSPANGLISHROBERTO on Wed May 16, 2007