Lack of harvest workers called a very major problem in state

Fields aren't yet furrowed, but many of the regions farmers already cringe at the thought of where they'll find enough workers for the summer harvest. By Chris Casey, Greeley Tribune Thursday, March 27, 2008 

"We do not have a labor force locally that can take care of the vegetables and everything that has to happen during the season," said Dewey Zabka, owner of Greeley's Martin Produce. "We have a very major problem."

Andy Grant, owner of Grant Farms of Wellington, calls it a desperate shortage. "In another five, 10 years, the fruit and vegetable industry will be gone out of Colorado."

It's being driven to countries south of the border where labor is abundant, Grant said.

A bill in the state legislature proposes to streamline the H-2A agricultural visa program, which allows farmers to hire workers from other countries legally. While farmers generally support the bill - calling the current process time-consuming and costly - they say it's not an adequate long-term solution.

Zabka said the government has hurt farmers in two ways. First, Congress last year didn't pass a guest-worker proposal that would have provided roughly 400,000 visas annually for immigrants seeking temporary employment.

Second, the government is fining employers who hire illegal workers.

"It puts us out of business," Zabka said. "In our position in agriculture, we need legal seasonal workers, and they are not available. We definitely want to comply with the rules that are put in front of us."

Zabka supports a guest-worker program that would give legal credentials to migrant workers.

"They'll come up and work six to nine months of the year," he said. "These people do want to go home. They want to come here and support their families wherever they are. We don't need accelerated legalization."

The H-2A program is too complicated, he said, noting it's the same for employers in the construction and landscaping businesses.

"We need a worker visa program for migrant labor to be more user-friendly," Zabka said. "All of us are in the same boat needing seasonal labor that will be willing to work. We're not taking jobs from local people because we can't find anybody to do the work."

While immigrant-rights groups argue that laws passed in 2006 in Colorado have created an unwelcoming environment for immigrants, others point to the slumping economy for the drop-off in migrant labor.

Employment for foreign-born Hispanics shows signs of slowing nationwide, according to a Pew Hispanic Center report. Construction employment grew 10.9 percent in the first quarter of 2007, compared with an average yearly rate of almost 20 percent from 2004 to 2006.

Workplace raids - such as the ones that picked up more than 260 suspected illegal immigrants at Greeley's Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in December 2006 - and the deployment of more U.S. Border Patrol agents also are viewed as having an effect on would-be migrants.

Sakata Farms of Brighton grows onions, sweet corn, cabbage and other vegetables on hundreds of acres in Weld and Adams counties. Owner Bob Sakata said he's noticed some decline in migrant workers.

"The walk-ins for applications is not as active as it used to be," he said. "I'm sure that there is an impact with the present tightening of the border."

Sakata said the highly seasonal nature of the industry makes it hard to attract workers. Once labor is found, he said, "the real problem" becomes verifying whether they have authentic paperwork. Sakata said he's hopeful the seasonal pilot worker program will pass and streamline the "very time-consuming" H-2A program.

Out of 247 seasonal workers employed by Sakata Farms at the peak of last season, 40 came through the H-2A program, which provides meals, housing and transportation.