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Wednesday, November 27, 2019
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Small-business & Ag
HAPPENINGS
Bank of Eastern Oregon plans
open house at new facility
LA GRANDE — A grand opening for the
new Bank of Eastern Oregon facility at 2514
Cove Ave., La Grande, will begin at 4 p.m.
Dec. 3. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres will be pro-
vided along with a tour of the new building.
Bank of Eastern Oregon offers full elec-
tronic account management and hands-on
in-the-branch service including products
appropriate for nonprofi ts, business ac-
counts with interest, short-term and long-
term business options and business money
market accounts. Local companies may also
take advantage of BEO’s “business sweep
services” program in which desired balance
limits are set in deposit accounts, then the
sweep service takes over, moving excess
deposit balances to earn better rates in a
money market account or paying down an
operating line of credit, a vice versa when
deposit balances are low.
Blue Mountain Barbers
celebrates new ownership
LA GRANDE — Blue Mountain Barbers
in La Grande is having a new ownership
celebration Dec. 4 at 1505 Adams Ave. The
all-day celebration also marks the business’
seventh anniversary. The grand opening of
the shop under new owner Kate Schaffner
will include food, drinks, raffl es and prizes
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. At noon, there will
be a ribbon cutting ceremony. The Union
County Chamber of Commerce encourages
the community to stop by and help the
business celebrate seven years of serving
La Grande and Union County.
County Committee Election
voting deadline is Dec. 2
SALEM — The 2019 Farm Service
Agency County Committee Election ballots,
which were mailed to eligible voters, must
be returned to local FSA offi ces or be post-
marked by Dec. 2. To be an eligible voter,
farmers and ranchers must participate
or cooperate in an FSA program. Newly
elected committee members will take offi ce
Jan. 1, 2020.
Baker County businesses invited
to participate in Baker Bucks
program
BAKER CITY — Baker City’s Nov. 30
Shop Small Saturday is a day dedicated to
celebrating small businesses and recogniz-
ing everything they do for their communi-
ties. The all-day event is hosted by the
Baker County Chamber of Commerce and
Visitor’s Bureau and the Blue Mountain
Community College Small Business Devel-
opment Center. Businesses across Baker
County will have sales, new products and
fun giveaways. Local businesses are invited
to participate in the Shop Small event and
to contribute to the Baker Bucks Raffl e.
Baker Bucks may be purchased from
the Baker County Chamber of Commerce
by consumers and used at the following
businesses, on Shop Small Saturday and
year-round:
• Albertsons
• Appliances & More
• Baker Botanicals
• Baker County Chamber Store
• Baker County YMCA
• Baker Food Co-op
• Baker Heritage Museum
• BELLA Main Street Market
• Betty’s Book
• Carpet One Floor & Home
• Cashway Lumber
• Chill’Z Frozen Yogurt
• Cody’s General Store
• Copper Belt Tasting Room
• Crossroads Carnegie Art Center
• D&B supply
• D&J Tacos
• Davis Computers
• Eastern Oregon Regional Theatre
• Elkhorn Embroidery
• Grocery Outlet
• Haines Gold Rush Gifts
• Haines Steakhouse
• Hearts and Petals Flower Shoppe
• Heavens Best Carpet Cleaning
• Little Bagel Shop
• Lube Depot
• Mad Matilda’s Coffee House
• McElroy Printing
• Oregon Trail Restaurant
• Peterson’s Gallery & Chocolatier
• Queen City Modern
• Safeway
• Succulent Hub
• Sycamore Tree
• Thatcher’s Ace Hardware
• Therapeutic Massage
Dan Wheat/Capital Press fi le photo
Antonio de Jesus Bailon, an H-2A-visa foreign guestworker, picks Gala apples at Griggs Orchards in Orondo, Washington.
A survey indicates the wage for guestworkers will signifi cantly increase again next year.
H-2A minimum wage
likely to jump in 2020
By Dan Wheat
Capital Press
The minimum wage for H-2A-visa foreign
guestworkers in Washington and Oregon
will likely increase from $15.03 to $15.83 per
hour in 2020.
That’s an increase of 5.32% and will still
be the highest in the nation.
The national average likely will be $13.99
per hour, up 5.58%, according to a 2019
survey of prevailing wages of fi eld and live-
stock workers released by USDA National
Agricultural Statistics Service on Nov. 21.
“This is unacceptable. The farm economy
in the Pacifi c Northwest is in a deep reces-
sion and charging farmers who do the right
thing even more is poor public policy that
needs to change,” said Dan Fazio, executive
director of the farm labor association Wafl a
in Olympia, Washington. Wafl a is the largest
H-2A provider in the West, fi lling more than
16,000 H-2A positions in 2019 with 90% or
more in Washington, mostly in tree fruit.
The NASS calculations usually are ad-
opted in December by the U.S. Department
of Labor as the Adverse Effect Wage Rates
— called AEWRs — for the coming year. The
AEWR is above state minimum wages and
is intended to prevent wages of domestic
workers from being adversely affected by the
importation of foreign workers.
In Washington, many H-2A workers in
tree fruit are paid piece rates that typi-
cally are higher than the AEWR. Growers
who employ H-2A workers have to use the
AEWR as the minimum for all their work-
ers. They say it tends to push all wages up
because growers not using H-2A have to pay
more to attract workers.
The NASS survey rate for Idaho, Montana
and Wyoming is $13.62, up $1.85 or 1.03%,
from $13.48. It took a 15.9% jump in 2019.
California goes from $13.92 to $14.77, a
gain of 6.1%.
Nevada, Colorado and Utah goes from
$13.13 to $14.26, an 8.6% increase. Arizona
and New Mexico goes from $12 to $12.91, a
7.5% boost.
“This is another increase in costs that
farmers can’t afford,” said Michael Marsh,
president and CEO of National Council for
Agricultural Employers in Washington, D.C.
“I think it will force some folks out of
business and probably fewer crops will be
fully harvested,” Marsh said. “If you have
marginal fruit or crops you might decide not
to harvest. It also makes foreign products
much more competitive in the U.S. because
labor costs here are much higher.”
The AEWR increase a year ago was larger
than in several years and resulted in NCAE
trying several avenues to get it rescinded, in-
cluding suing the U.S. Department of Labor.
NCAE lost in U.S. District Court and has an
appeal pending in the D.C. Circuit Court of
Appeals.
“NCAE will not stop pushing. We have to
get some positive resolution here,” Marsh
said. “This is not in line with actual costs
and there is no adverse effect on domestic
wages so there is no need for an adverse
effect rate. As long as you continue averag-
ing wages across categories it just continues
wage spiral out of control.”
Joel Anderson, executive director of Snake
River Farmers Association in Heyburn,
Idaho, called year-over-year AEWR increas-
es “very troubling” and “unsustainable.”
The association assists 615 grower mem-
bers in obtaining more than 4,000 H-2A
workers annually, mostly in the Mountain
West.
“I know several growers who will no lon-
ger be able to use the H-2A program if these
increases are implemented,” Anderson said.
They will try to fi nd local workers or quit
farming, and either hurts U.S. workers, he
said.
“If they are fortunate to fi nd U.S. work-
ers and they are not using H-2A, the U.S.
workers will likely be offered the fair market
wage, which is signifi cantly less than the
AEWR. Thus by raising the AEWR to a level
producers can’t afford, the U.S. Department
of Labor reduces the offered wages for U.S.
workers in those positions,” Anderson said.
Peri & Sons Farms in Yerington, Nevada,
a co-plaintiff with NCAE in the lawsuit that
is on appeal, is a fresh-market vegetable
farm that employed 1,768 H-2A workers
in 2018 and estimated the 2019 AEWR
increase would cost it $3.7 million.
Olson’s Greenhouse Gardens in Salem,
Utah, grows bedding plants and fl owers in
Utah, Colorado and Idaho for big box stores.
It hires 400 to 450 H-2A workers annually
and 200 on regular immigration visas and
only a few domestic workers because they
are hard to fi nd.
Jordon Rolfe, Olson’s chief operating
offi cer, said the likely 2020 AWER increase
perpetuates a trend that is “devastating to
agriculture” and will force Olson’s to absorb
See Wage / Page 2B
The original ‘experiential shopping’ experts
By Jeremy Field
As online shopping has
steadily grown during the past
decade, brick-and-mortar retail
businesses have
been looking at
new ways to ad-
dress this shift in
consumer behavior.
In an attempt
Field
to convert some of
those “clicks” back
to “bricks,” experiential shopping
has become the latest trend and
marketing technique for tra-
ditional retailers. Experiential
shopping can take many shapes
— a focus on consumer engage-
ment over sales, creating an
experience to share with others,
or offering other services beyond
the products sold, to name a few.
But for most small, mom-and-
pop businesses, this is simply
business as usual, and has been
for generations. Small business-
es are the original experiential
shopping experience. There are
no new marketing techniques at
play, just an authentic, local and
personal shopping experience.
That is why the #ShopSmall
movement is so important. It
reminds us of the importance
of spending our dollars in the
establishments that power our
economy, benefi t our communi-
ties, and enrich our lives.
Small Business Saturday will
celebrate its 10th anniversary
on Saturday. The movement
is set to build on a decade of
success and rally even more
communities to come together
in support of small businesses.
Last year, a record estimated
$17.8 billion was spent on Small
Business Saturday at indepen-
dent retailers and restaurants,
momentum I urge you to
continue by shopping small this
holiday season.
Supporting Small Business
Saturday doesn’t have to be a
choice between “clicks” or “bricks”
either. More and more small
businesses are bringing their
local and personal touch to the
convenience of online shopping.
In fact, 41% of consumers who
reported participating in Small
Business Saturday last year did
so by shopping small online.
There are nearly 378,000
small businesses in Oregon, and
more than half of the Oregon
workforce either is employed by
a small business or owns a small
business. Plus, two out of three
net new jobs are created by
small businesses.
Spending your dollars with
a small business this holiday
season not only grows the
economy — it typically comes
with a great story to share: the
artist who handcrafted a piece of
jewelry, the father and son who
decided to take their BBQ rub
recipes to market, the corporate
professional who got burned out
and decided to pursue her pas-
sion for pet care. These are the
people who naturally create ex-
periential shopping for consum-
ers simply by being themselves.
Jeremy Field is the regional
administrator for the U.S. Small
Business Administration Pacifi c
Northwest Region, which serves
Washington, Oregon, Idaho
and Alaska. The SBA empowers
entrepreneurs and small
businesses with resources to
start, grow, expand or recover.