Labor Challenges Concerning for North Central Washington Farmers

As farmers in North Central Washington do all the prep work so that can maximize their crop of apples, pears, wheat, wine grapes and much much more, labor concerns are overshadowing it.

Britt Dudek with the Chelan Douglas County Farm Bureau said concerns about the wall, immigration enforcement and an already tight labor supply means no restful sleeps for growers.

“Uncertainty is difficult and that’s the thing that worries most of us in labor-intensive ag is that we are uncertain as to whether we’re going to have the labor necessary to bring those crops in and to get them to market like we should.”

Dudek also noted that if there is a lot of work available and the pay would be above minimum wage for people who are looking.

Unfortunately, there is still a shortage and for smaller growers, the government’s H-2A program is not really a viable option with requirements such as paying for recruiting, transportation, wages above the going rate and housing.

Dudek said, “There are some significant costs there but you exchange those, for the larger growers, in that they have certainty, they know they have that work force. They know how many people they will have and they can work with those numbers. For a smaller guy it’s a little tougher to do that.”

Dudek said their crops have to be picked when they’re ready and can’t wait until labor comes along which is why this issue is so critical for farmers, not just in North Central Washington, but everywhere.

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