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Friday, November 8, 2019 Volume 92, Number 45 CapitalPress.com $2.00 EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER Dan Wheat/Capital Press H-2A-visa foreign guestworkers from Mexico use a Bandit Xpress-DBR harvest assist platform picking Fuji apples at Valicoff Fruit Co., Wapato, Wash., a year ago. FOREIGN GUESTWORKER GROWTH SLOWS ‘Farm economics have taken a hit which likely plays a huge role in the slowdown’ By DAN WHEAT Capital Press Certified H-2A * guest- workers nationally 250 257.7 (Thousands of workers) 200 *Certified by U.S. Dept. of Labor. † Decline in 2010 and 2011 due to Obama administration revoking Bush administration rule changes. .S. producers filled a record association filled more than 16,000 posi- tions this year with about 10,000 people. number of agricultural posi- tions with foreign guestwork- Sequential contracts allow people to work ers in 2019, with 257,667 jobs for one grower and then another. certified. Greater increases in H-2A usage in But while the use of guestworkers has recent years have been cited as evidence of grown by more than 18% in each of the past a national farm labor shortage, particularly Michael five years, that growth slowed to just 6.1 % seasonal farm labor. Marsh, this year. But Marsh said he doesn’t think the slow- down means the labor shortage is lessening. “Farm economics have taken a hit which The 257,667 certified H-2A positions are 12.8 likely plays a huge role in the slowdown,” said Michael Marsh, president of the National Council of to 17.2% of the estimated 1.5 million to 2 million farmworkers in the nation. Agricultural Employers in Washington, D.C. “Labor is still tight. My guess is the shortage will He said he expected greater growth but that fac- tors against that probably included trade issues and continue to get worse. Unemployment is still very retaliatory tariffs. Weather anomalies prevented low in the U.S. so consequently there aren’t enough some plantings so harvest required fewer workers, workers to fill these jobs and the H-2A program will he said. continue to grow,” Marsh said. DOL-certified H-2A positions do not equate to Kerry Scott, program manager for masLabor in the total number of workers. Sometimes one posi- Lovingston, Va., said perhaps bad weather, tariffs tion is filled by multiple people, and in other cases and a slowing of overall national job growth may all one person fills several positions at different times. See Workers, Page 9 For example, in Washington state the farm labor U 150 Up 6.1% from 2018 100 86 77.3 50 0 2009 ’11 † ’13 ’15 ’17 Top H-2A * ag worker states Area 1. Florida 2. Georgia 3. Washington 4. California 5. N. Carolina U.S. total 2019 2018 2019 Percent change 30,462 32,364 24,862 18,908 21,794 242,762 33,598 29,480 26,226 23,321 21,605 257,667 10.3% -8.9 5.5 23.3 -0.9 6.1% Source: U.S. Dept. of Labor Dan Wheat and Alan Kenaga/Capital Press USFWS estimates cost of recovering streaked horned lark Plan calls for leasing, buying farmland By DON JENKINS Capital Press The streaked horned lark, a ground-nesting songbird par- tial to farm fields and found in the Willamette Valley and south- west Washington, will cost $22.9 million to $81 million over 25 years to recover, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates in a plan published in the Federal Register. About 1,500 larks are in the two states, and the agency hopes to up the number to 5,725. The price tag will depend on whether federal, state and private organizations lease or buy habitat, mostly from Oregon farmers. “The largest area of potential habitat for streaked horned larks is agricultural land in the Willa- mette Valley,” according to the draft recovery plan. The department will take comments on the plan until Dec. 30. The lark was listed in 2013 as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The USFWS enacted a special rule that protects farmers and ranchers from prosecution if they accidentally harm a lark while doing routine agricultural activities. The new recovery plan proposes to retain the rule. USFWS reasons it will encourage farmers to keep spaces open. According to the plan, the next step toward recovery is to develop incentive programs that encour- age producers to provide habitat for larks, perhaps by grazing or field burning. Larks were more abundant when natural fires burned the landscape. Larks benefited when Oregon grass seed farmers were allowed to burn their fields, according to USFWS. “The decline of the streaked horned lark in the Willamette Val- ley is correlated to the reduction in field burning,” the plan states. The conversion of grass-seed fields to other crops, such as blue- berries and hazelnuts, also reduces lark habitat. In Washington, larks are known primarily at airports, on dredge spoils and artillery ranges at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Like burn- ing, bombing creates lark habi- tat, according to USFWS, though exploding shells have been known to cause what the agency calls “nest failure.” See Lark, Page 9 David Leonard/USFWS The streaked horned lark, found in the Willamette Valley and southwest Washington, will cost $22.9 million to $81 million over 25 years to recover, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates in a plan announced Oct. 30. Agencies compile top agricultural commodities for Oregon Rank/item 1. Greenhouse/ nursery Value (Millions of dollars) $995.9 652 2. Cattle/calves 590.4 3. Hay 517.4 4. Grass seed 473.2 5. Milk 298.4 6. Wheat 7. Winegrapes 208.7 8. Potatoes 201.6 9. Blueberries 10. Pears 180.7 140.9 Top 10 Oregon agricultural commodities, 2018 Source: Oregon Dept. of Agriculture Alan Kenaga/Capital Press By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press PORTLAND — Green- house and nursery products continue to reign as Ore- gon’s most valuable agricul- tural commodity, with goods nearly topping $1 billion in 2018, according to data compiled by the Oregon Department of Agriculture and USDA National Agri- cultural Statistics Service. The agencies released their annual brochure of facts and figures about Ore- gon agriculture on Oct. 31, including crop production, acreage and livestock inven- tory over the previous year. Dave Losh, Oregon state statistician for NASS, said most of the information comes from surveys col- lected directly from farm- ers and ranchers across the state. “We have a cooperative agreement with (the state), and it goes back to our mis- sion of providing timely and accurate statistics on agri- culture,” Losh said. “We’re able to focus on Oregon agriculture, which has a lot of diversity.” Oregon famously grows more than 200 different agri- cultural commodities, from wheat and cattle in the east to grass seed, hazelnuts and Christmas trees in the lush Willamette Valley. The USDA ranks the top 20 most valuable agricul- tural commodities in Ore- gon, and while Losh said the list does fluctuate each year depending on crop prices, the greenhouse and nursery industry has routinely led the pack since 2009. Ten years ago, green- house and nursery products were valued at $732.5 mil- lion. In 2018, the total was $995.9 million — a 35% increase. Losh said there were few other major surprises in the top 20, compared to 2017. Cattle and calves remained number two, at $652 mil- lion, and hay number three at $590.4 million. Grass seed and milk flipped spots at fourth and fifth, respec- tively, likely due to lower dairy prices. See List, Page 9