Tifton, GA – Some South Georgia farmers are having a tough time finding local and migrant workers, which some blame on the new immigration law.

“It’s been a tremendous drop in the amount of workers we have state of Georgia. We’ve also had a $140 million dollar loss last year because of the loss of workers,” said farmer Bill Brim.

Under the new law, employers with 500 or more employees will have to use a federal database called E-Verify to check the employment eligibility.

That puts farmers like Brim in a bind, who now have to rely on an assistance program called H-2A.

The H-2A program allows agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring nonimmigrant foreign workers to the U.S.

Farmers say they want domestic labor, but most domestic workers aren’t prepared for the strenuous duties.

“If they are physically able to do it then we’re glad to hire them. We don’t mind hiring domestics. We like hiring domestics because it’s less money for us to bring people over from Mexico, but they have to be productive workers for us to hire them,” said Brim.

Brim and other farmers say they have been in contact with state lawmakers to improve the assistance program because if not the state will see a trickledown effect.

“Some are planting less crops and that affects a lot of people because now the John Deere dealership doesn’t sell as many tractors, the seed dealers don’t sell as many seeds, there’s less demand for fertilizer so when the farmer cuts back on the product they produce because they can’t find enough workers to harvest that, It affects everybody,” said the President of AgWorks H2 Dan Bremer

Farmers just want something to happen soon not only for the sake of their farm but the community as a whole.

Copyright 2012 WALB. All rights reserved.

 as reported by John McKiss

Click HERE for the entire report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 10-4-2011
For more information contact Charles Hall
chall@asginfo.net

The Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA) released today preliminary findings from the economic impact study which the organization commissioned to analyze production data from the spring and summer harvest. Charles Hall, GFVGA Executive Director presented the preliminary data at the 2011 United Fresh Produce Association’s Washington Public Policy Conference where produce industry leaders from across the nation are assembled to lobby for reasonable immigration reform and discuss national E-verify legislation. Hall said, “Georgia is the poster child for what can happen when mandatory e-verify and enforcement legislation is passed without an adequate guest worker program.”

The report, conducted by The University of Georgia Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development and authored by Dr. John McKissick and Sharon Kane, will be released later this week. It analyzed data from seven crops that represented over 46.4% of the acreage available for harvest this spring. The seven crops studied represented a total farm gate value of more than $ 578 million in the 2009 UGA Farm Gate Survey.

Growers that said they had experienced labor losses in the spring/summer of 2011, represented over 80% of the production acreage reported in the survey. Based on the data submitted for each of the crops, the following losses were calculated as being directly attributable to harvest or packing labor shortages,

Blueberries $ 29,015,947
Blackberries $ 4,027,125
Vidalia Onions $ 16,312,345
Bell Pepper $ 15,115,645
Squash $ 1,948,629
Cucumber $ 5,932,600
Watermelon $ 2,592,230
TOTAL $ 74,980,521

Assuming the grower responses in the study are representative of all growers of that commodity, the total loss at the farm gate attributed to labor shortage for the seven crops studied would be about $140 MILLION.

The data showed in a normal year the growers responding to the survey would need 12,930 harvesters. However, for the spring of 2011 they reported a shortage of 40.4%, needing 5,244 more harvesters to meet the 12,930 target.

The shortage of labor, and dollar losses at the farm gate, also had a tremendous impact on the local communities and the entire state of Georgia. Hall reported that multi-county and state models of all the business and interactions of consumers and business was formulated by the researchers to estimate the impacts of the reported losses on the local communities and the state as a whole. Calculated on an annual basis, the Spring 2011 berry and vegetable production resulted in an additional $106.5 million dollar lost in other goods and services in Georgia’s economy putting the combined impact at about $181.5 million dollars. Assuming the grower responses in the study are representative of all growers for the seven crops analyzed, the total yearly economic impact would be approximately $391 million dollars and the job loss would be about 3,260 on a statewide basis.

Looking forward to the next crop year, growers were asked ‘Based on your labor situation, what are your plans for 2012?’ For the berry crops, 55% of the respondents answered the question. Due to the significant investment growers have in the orchards and vineyards 65% said they would maintain the current acreage. Many blueberry growers reported while maintaining their current acreage they would be turning to mechanically harvesting more acres than in the past. A few growers said they would increase acreage, while 20% plan to decrease their harvested acreage.

For the vegetables growers, 72% of the respondents answered the question as to their plans in 2012. 53% of the growers said they would be decreasing their acreage in 2012 –some by as much as 100%. Most growers reported decreasing their acreage in the 25% to 50%. 45% of the growers said they would maintain their current acreage for 2012 while only 2% said they would be increasing their acreage.

During his remarks, Hall stated that most of the ‘mandatory e-verify’ legislation is promoted as a jobs creation bill. While this may be true for some industry sectors, it does not create jobs in agriculture. According to the study, there were 5,244 thousand seasonal harvester jobs that were vacant during the 2011 harvest season. This is equivalent to 572 full time jobs. The total impact in job loss was estimated to be about 1282 fewer full time equivalent jobs in Georgia due to the output producers lost in the spring of 2011 due to the labor situation.

Hall said, “Field harvest work is skilled labor. Anyone that has tried to pick blueberries, or cucumbers, or watermelons knows you have to have to have experience, plus be in top physical condition.” He cited these jobs are in the hot sun, high temperatures – 98 to 100 degrees, eight to ten hours a day, and requires lifting, bending, stooping. It is not something that the average citizen can do. For agriculture, E-verify is not a job creating bill – it is job loss legislation.

Organizations assisting the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association with the study included Georgia Farm Bureau, Georgia Peach Council, Georgia Watermelon Association, Georgia Commodity Commission for Blueberries, Georgia Blueberry Growers Association, Georgia Commodity Commission for Vegetables, and the Vidalia Onion Business Council.

- End -

Click here to complete the survey 

The Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, in cooperation with a number of other agricultural organizations, is asking for your assistance to provide crop production data related to your 2011 spring/ summer harvest. GFVGA has commissioned the University of Georgia – Center for Agribusiness Development to study the data we collect and analyze the economic impact of the 2011 spring/summer harvest on our farms and rural communities. In addition, the study will estimate the economic impact on state and local tax revenues from the purchase of goods and services during the harvest season.

No farms will be identified in the survey results.  All data will be reported collectively by crop.  The survey will close in mid-August.

Click here to complete the survey to complete the survey on line

Click here to print out a hard copy of the survey and mail in to the GFVGA office 
 

Please contact the GFVGA office if you have any questions.  THANK YOU for your assistance.

In response to the state’s new strict immigration law, and the shortage of farmers that followed, Georgia governor Nathan Deal has proposed allowing probationers to fill the void on farms.

Peaches. (Adriene Hill/Marketplace)

Kai Ryssdal: The state of Georgia’s got a tough new immigration law about to go into effect. It’s making life harder for farmers in the Peach State. A survey not too long ago found they’re short about 11,000 workers, jobs most commonly filled by immigrants, both legal and not.

The news has brought an interesting proposal from Georgia governor Nathan Deal. How about filling those jobs with people on probation who are looking for work?

Charles Hall is the executive director of the Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Growers’ Association. It’s an industry trade group. Good to have you with us.

Charles Hall: Thank you Kai.

Ryssdal: Where did this idea come from, of having probationers working the farms?

Hall: I think it was a brainstorming session with several of our commissioners and, I guess, with the governor. I’m not sure exactly where it came from.

Ryssdal: Now to be clear, this would be a voluntary program, right? Because I have to tell you, when I first heard about it, it sounded vaguely like a chain gang.

Hall: Well, a probationary person — a person that is on probation — would be hired by the farm just like a regular citizen would be hired. It’s not something that would be mandatory. Of course, they’d have to be able to withstand the work performance levels — it’s hot in Georgia. Right now, it’s about 98 degrees outside, and this is an eight- to 10-hour job that you’re out on the field. You’re stooping, bending, lifting and it’s not something that everybody can do.

Ryssdal: How much are they going to make?

Hall: The average harvester in Georgia — depending, again, on the commodity — but our average harvester makes somewhere around $12.50 an hour. It all depends on productivity, because the harvesters are paid based on piece rate, but they have to be paid at least the minimum wage.

Ryssdal: Now Georgia has a new immigration law, which is fairly strict in who can work in that state. How much of a role do you think that law had in migrant labor staying away from the state of Georgia?

Hall: Well, we understand from talking to our crew leaders and their conversations with the immigrant workers that many of them felt concerned as to what the new law would mean to them, how well would they be able to move around the state; if they were stopped for a traffic violation, if they did not have the proper documentation on them, whether they would be deported at that time.

Ryssdal: Was your group in favor of or opposed to that law?

Hall: We were opposed to the law — this is House Bill 87. We were concerned about the law for several reasons, but primarily because of the concerns of the additional burden it puts on the growers as far as the E-Verify portion of the law. There was concerns with regard to the enforcement component of the law. We quite honestly didn’t expect the reaction to the enforcement component of the law to be quite as strong as what it’s been.

Ryssdal: Charles Hall, he’s the executive director of the Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Growers’ Association. Mr. Hall, thanks so much for your time.

Hall: Glad to.

Click HERE for the original story

Click HERE for VIDEO and original article

LESLIE, Ga.– “It’s a little heated out here,” said Jaquis Jones as he stood in a dusty Sumter County field. For most of the men here, this was a first.

They’d never before worked in an agricultural field – never even considered it until Tuesday. “This is the hardest work I’ve ever done,” said Maurice Evans, a first-timer.

Nineteen men started work here at dawn, a majority of them, probationers from the state Department of Corrections. By lunchtime, eight had quit.

They get paid fifty cents per bucket of cucumbers -or at least minimum wage. Nearby, a crew of migrant workers churned through a cucumber field at more than twice the pace of the crew of probationers.

“This crew is real slow,” said Benito Mendez, the supervisor. “If I had to depend on these people, I would lose my crops.” Across the road, the grower lost much of a field because it didn’t get picked in time.

They’re here because three state government agencies began actively recruiting probationers to work in south Georgia’s produce fields-to replace migrants scared off by Georgia’s tough new immigration law.

The program doesn’t compel probationers to work in the field. These folks could have been working here weeks ago. Some said they hadn’t know agricultural jobs were available.

Anthony Lawson says he’ll be back to work again Thursday. “I will be back out here at seven on the dot.”

Growers say it’s too soon to gauge the success of the program. They’ll know better at the end of cucumber season.

Meanwhile, the director of probation operations for Georgia’s Department of Corrections says the undertaking put forth by Governor Nathan Deal — to have probationary workers fill the roughly 11,000 unfilled farm jobs in the state — is “the biggest demand they’ve had so far.”

Director Stan Cooper told 11Alive’s Matt Pearl the system is still in its infancy and will likely require growing pains, but he believes it offers plenty of incentive for the workers themselves — namely, the opportunity to make at least minimum wage and potentially up to $12-15/hour.

“I don’t think we can fill all the holes,” Cooper said, but he did think the match could very well work out.