February 5, 2016
More than
one H-2A
provider
serves
Washington
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
YAKIMA, Wash. — Con-
tinuing shrinkage of the
available labor force in ev-
ery sector of agriculture is
a big concern to growers, a
top supplier of foreign farm-
workers says.
The company masLa-
bor of Lovington, Va., is the
leading supplier of H-2A and
H-2B-visa foreign guest-
workers in the
nation,
pro-
viding 13,000
workers annu-
ally to 800 cli-
ents in 46 states
and in nearly
every ag sector.
Kerry
Its program
Scott
manager, Kerry
Scott, spoke at
the Washing-
ton Growers
League annual
meeting at the
Yakima Con-
vention Center
Brendan
on Jan. 26.
Monahan
While WA-
FLA, formerly
known as the Washington
Farm Labor Association,
provided 7,895 of the 11,844
H-2A workers used in Wash-
ington in 2015, masLabor
provided about 500. Zirkle
Fruit Co., Selah, hired 2,889,
according to U.S. Depart-
ment of Labor records.
MasLabor hires the Wash-
ington Growers League to do
some of its legwork in Wash-
ington and began offering
services in the state several
years ago, about the same
time WAFLA’s H-2A ser-
vices began expanding.
WAFLA recruits, trans-
ports and provides H-2A
workers from Mexico for
employers. It offers individ-
ual, shared and sequential
services.
MasLabor generally costs
more but offers a greater de-
gree of customization with
individual and shared con-
tracts, Scott said. Growers
have a greater chance of get-
ting the same workers back
each year that they have
trained, he said.
MasLabor’s shared or
joint-employer contracts of-
fer greater shared grower
control and shared liability
so it takes growers who work
well together and trust each
other, he said.
Sequential
services,
whereby H-2A workers
harvest different kinds of
crops for different growers
in sequence, can get tricky
if weather or other factors
cause last-minute changes in
need, Scott said.
Growers have switched
in both directions between
masLabor and WAFLA and
some are well suited to WAF-
LA, he said.
Florida citrus growers
have found they can get the
same amount of work done
with 25 percent fewer H-2A
workers than domestic work-
ers because H-2A workers
work harder, Scott said.
Tree fruit packers can use
H-2A workers if packing
their own fruit but have to
hire H-2B workers if pack-
ing fruit for other growers.
The H-2B program is more
dificult to navigate, he
said.
Mike Gempler, execu-
tive director of Washing-
ton Growers League, talked
about shakedowns for mon-
ey and exploitation that can
happen with contractors in
Mexico hired to recruit work-
ers. He said it’s important to
have ethical companies doing
that work. U.S. law does not
apply in Mexico, but U.S.
labor advocates want the
U.S. government to exercise
jurisdiction over H-2A re-
cruitment there, which would
slow down the process and
increase costs, he said.
Brendan Monahan, a Ya-
kima labor attorney, talked
about H-2A risks including
foreign and domestic recruit-
ing, wages, medical liabili-
ties and more invasive feder-
al and state audits.
CapitalPress.com
5
Farm equipment sales mixed, Colusa vendors say
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
COLUSA, Calif. — Farm
equipment sales in California
are a mixed bag, say vendors
at the 51st annual Colusa
Farm Show.
Lately, much of the pros-
pects for equipment compa-
nies have depended on the
commodities they service.
For companies that cater to
the tree nut industry, such as
Chico, Calif., based Wizard
Manufacturing, business has
remained fairly brisk.
“We’ve been holding our
own,” company salesman
Dave Mulqueeney said as he
greeted farm show attendees
on Feb. 2. “If the drought
continues for another year, it
might (affect the business). So
far it hasn’t affected our busi-
ness.”
But for businesses whose
customers
grow
crops
that have been affected by
drought, business has slowed
as farmers’ budgets tighten.
“Let’s hope El Nino picks
up the ag economy,” said
Howard J. Ditkof, president
of J and S Equipment in Con-
cord, Calif. “The ag economy
has been awful. The whole
ag economy has crumbled
with the drought. But with the
rain, I’m optimistic about this
year.”
Salespeople from Wizard
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
A cutting demonstration is given at the 51st annual Colusa Farm Show on Feb. 2 at the fairgrounds in
Colusa, Calif. Hundreds of vendors displayed their goods and services at the three-day show.
and J and S were among hun-
dreds of vendors of agricultur-
al goods large and small at the
self-proclaimed “granddaddy
of farm shows” Feb. 2-4 at the
fairgrounds in Colusa.
The show was to include
seminars on insurance, social
media, safety and other topics
as well as the annual Ag Lead-
ership Breakfast sponsored
by California State Universi-
ty-Chico’s College of Agri-
culture and its supporters, set
for earlier this week.
The farm show comes as
prices paid to farmers na-
tionwide haven’t kept pace
with expenses in the last year
after a period in which farm
commodity prices increased
by 33 percent from 2009 to
2014.
Moreover, in the mid Sac-
ramento Valley, many rice
growers have had to reduce
acreage in the past couple of
years because there hasn’t
been enough water available.
John O’Brien, chief oper-
ating oficer of the Merced,
Calif.-based N and S Tractor
Co., said its stores have re-
mained fairly busy despite the
drought.
“We’ve been pretty fortu-
nate,” O’Brien said. “They’re
farming less ground but they
still need equipment. Hope-
fully this rain keeps going and
we can get the lakes full.”
For some retailers, busi-
ness has been driven by reg-
ulation. New state air quality
standards for diesel-powered
Dave Mulqueeney, a salesman
for Wizard Manufacturing in
Chico, stands near a machine
used for externally drying wal-
nuts before they’re sent to the
dehydrator. The display was at
the Colusa Farm Snow on Feb.
2 at the fairgrounds in Colusa,
Calif.
irrigation power units have
sent some growers to Enviro-
Pro Energy Co. in Williams,
Calif., whose natural gas and
propane-powered equipment
are exempt.
“The irrigation market is
very robust right now because
of” the new stricter emissions
regulations, EnviroPro pres-
ident and general manager
Joe Silva said during the farm
show.
“It’s an alternative,” he
said of his company’s equip-
ment. “We actually have com-
petitors here this year.”
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