Newhouse On Labor Part 2

Newhouse on Labor Part 2. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Labor. It’s a sticky wicket as they say in the game of cricket. Lately the lack of skilled labor has had ag producers scratching their heads. In 2011 3% of the viable apple crop was not picked due to lack of labor. That represents a $40-million dollar loss for the industry. Dan Newhouse, Director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture talks about why labor is so important.

NEWHOUSE: We’ve got an industry in this state that we produce a tremendous number of what’s called specialty crops that require a lot of handling unlike most states. We’re the third largest producing state of those specialty crops.

Field crops for the most part are harvested with large machines or combines that only require a few people where as each pear, apple, cherry has to be picked by hand at present.

NEWHOUSE: We are certainly dependent on a large workforce. And so it’s becoming more and more critical as laws are becoming stricter in some states, the federal government is becoming more vigilant in patrolling our borders. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for folks to come across the border. I don’t know if 70% is the right number. That’s a guess. But certainly there’s a large number of folks that we think probably are document challenged.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.