Workers Delayed in Getting to Fields

Farmers who use the H-2A program for their workers are seeing delays in getting their farm laborers into the fields.

Executive Director of the Washington Growers League Mike Gempler says the problem has been growing for several years and farmers need to adjust.

“They need to plan for a soft start. In other words, if you’re betting your entire cherry crop on having your foreign workers there exactly on the day you need them you’re risking too much. It’s a bad bet.”

Gempler anticipates about 14,000 farm workers in Washington this year through the H-2A program.

The H-2A program is the only legal method for many growers to bring in the workers they need for a successful harvest.

Gempler said, “Individual growers using this will get hurt. They will lose money as a result, because they don’t have quality or they can’t make it to market on time or they have crop loss. That’s what’s going to happen.”

Gempler says the Washington Growers League is working Senator Patty Murray, Representative Dan Newhouse and others to speed up the process and increase its capacity.

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