MOSES LAKE, Wash. (AP) -- Farmers and farm groups need to speak up soon about their labor needs before Congress enacts sweeping immigration reform, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray said at a round table of agricultural interests.þþThe Senate could begin debating legislation to reform immigration as early as next week, Murray said.þþThe Washington Democrat visited with farmers and agricultural groups at Big Bend Community College on Monday to discuss a variety of issues, including transportation, food labeling, rising fuel prices and the looming 2007 budget. But it was immigration reform and concerns about a labor shortage that dominated the discussion.þþLast year, drought and the reduced size of some crops enabled many growers to avert a labor shortage. But not so for everyone, said Mike Robinson, a Royal City orchardist and general manager of Stemilt Agricultural Services.þþOne farm needed 150 workers to harvest organic apples last year. The farm ''could never break 100,'' Robinson said, and the fruit ripened too long on the trees.þþGrowers often don't feel the impact of a labor shortage until they see how much fruit doesn't qualify for packing, he said.þþAlready, 5,000 bins of Granny Smith apples have been thrown away because the fruit wasn't picked in a timely fashion last year, said Jon Wyss, an analyst for Gebbers Farms in Brewster.þþGebbers Farms and Stemilt represent two of the three largest apple growers in the United States, making labor a critical issue for the state's industry, he said.þþThe U.S. House already passed a strict immigration bill that would force undocumented workers to leave the country and includes no provision for a guest-worker program, Murray said. A similar bill has been proposed in the Senate.þþFarmers have said any attempt at immigration reform must include a guest-worker program.þþRobinson is among several growers looking to hire as many as 1,000 seasonal farm workers from Mexico this year under a federal guest-worker program called H-2A, which allows farmers to bring in foreign workers temporarily if they can prove a labor shortage exists.þþSeveral growers in central Washington's Yakima Valley brought in workers from Thailand each of the past two summers to meet labor needs. A California labor contractor, Global Horizons, provided the workers, but its business license has since been revoked over wage and tax violations. The company is appealing.þþThe growers seeking to bring in additional workers from Mexico are working through the Washington Growers League and the Northwest Growers Association, a nonprofit labor contracting firm, Robinson said.þþMany growers have argued the H-2A program is too slow and inflexible, as well as costly. Growers are required to provide housing and pay a minimum of $9.03 per hour.þþLabor groups counter that the program leaves workers dependent on a single employer, and can make it difficult for them to complain about work conditions.þþ
Source: NY Times
