Possible solutions
Industry experts point to several ways the process could be made easier, faster, and more cost effective. One is as simple as processing petitions electronically. Currently, requests for additional immigration documents are sent by snail mail, adding days to the process.
Limoneira doesn’t currently use the H-2A program, even though Teague admits, “We’re between 20 and 25 percent short on having enough workers in Santa Paula and San Joaquin Valley.” To alleviate the shortage in California, migrant workers are coming over from a property in Arizona, when the season there is over. The company is also considering a similar move in other states, like Washington.
Teague says Limoneira provides workers with sick days, medical insurance, and housing. The company was one of the first in Ventura County to establish worker housing, and currently has a total of 196 units, of which 58 are new, with more to come. “Our housing is for maintaining people, rather than attracting them,” he says.
From Bitter to Better Harvests
The labor shortage has spurred some positive momentum, as growers look to technology to improve and streamline the harvesting process. Mechanized harvesting is not feasible for many fruits and vegetables, and when it is, specialized machinery can be very expensive. For its part, the Michigan Apple Committee turned to Michigan
State University, funding research for an economical harvester/sorter that can efficiently sort apples in the orchard. A prototype will be tested this fall, Smith notes, and if successful, could reach the market in a year or so.
Western Growers Association has also poured funding into research and development, opening the Center for Innovation and Technology in Salinas. Created as an incubator to bring technology startups and growers together, the initiative hopes to develop solutions to the many challenges—including water and labor shortages—facing agriculture.
What Lies Ahead
While labor has always been a concern for growers, the confluence of a stronger Mexican economy, tighter border restrictions, an aging workforce, and changing attitudes about grueling field work have dramatically increased the shortage of available seasonal workers.
While more growers are reluctantly turning to the federal H-2A guest worker program, most believe it is not a viable long-term solution. Instead it is viewed as overly complicated, expensive, bureaucratic, and riddled with inefficiencies. For an industry already adhering to a slew of labor laws, the best hope remains immigration reform, though this is unlikely to be achieved anytime soon.
