Millions of dollars in specialty crops have been left in fields and orchards for one simple reason: a lack of workers. Farmers need them, and they’re looking at every possible way to source them. Michigan Farm Bureau’s Bob Boehm is the manager of the Center for Commodity, Farm and Industry Relations, as well as Great Lakes Ag Labor Services LLC. He says sourcing farm labor has become increasingly difficult since 9/11. “The borders have tightened up, the workers that are here are aging out, and we’re not getting new workers coming in.”

HELP ON THE WAY: Over 1,000 H2A workers are expected to come to Michigan farms this year — double what Great Lakes Ag Labor Services sourced last year.

Dawn Drake, manager of the Michigan Processing Apple Growers, says the group  became involved in the labor issue in 2013. She recalls 2012’s total fruit crop failure for Michigan apple growers when seasonal workers didn’t have a crop to pick. She says they didn’t come to the state the following year to work, even though the trees rebounded with a record crop. “We ended up leaving about 5 million bushels of apples in the orchards, because there was nobody to pick the fruit.”

“The Great Lakes Ag Labor Services company started shortly after with four apple farmers sourcing H2A workers. Drake says the H2A program is a farmer’s last hope for securing a workforce.

Recruiting a workforce

Boehm has seen more farmers turn to the H2A visa program as a more secure means of sourcing legal workers after they’ve exhausted their search for domestic seasonal employees. “That means reaching out to any workers that worked at the farm the previous year, asking if they are planning to come back,” he says.

The process also includes advertising jobs throughout Michigan and the nation. Boehm says it involves an application at the state workforce development agency that gets shared within the state as well as interstate. If farms still need workers after targeting available domestic workers, they can request visas for foreign workers through the Labor Department.

“There’s less and less workers available, especially for the seasonal part-time jobs that are available in the spring for asparagus on through summer vegetables, Christmas trees, apple harvest,” he says.

Using the H2A program for seasonal workers has become the only option for some farmers. Dairy or hog operations that need full-time workers are not eligible for the seasonal guest worker program. Boehm says domestic recruitment is more focused on those year-round jobs.

Drake adds some farmers are also using farm labor contractors to source seasonal workers. A farm labor contractor is an employer that may come in and say, “You just pay me one check, I’m going to take care of the workers; I’ll take care of the housing, the equipment and everything else.”

Drake advises farmers interested in a farm labor contractor to make sure they understand all of the legalities and possible joint-employment liabilities.

Hang-ups with migrant housing

Many migrant workers know if they come to Michigan, housing will be provided. But supplying housing can be a challenge. Boehm says, “Some of the housing has been financed using a federal program under USDA, commonly referred to as the 514 Housing Program.”

He says while the farmer was able to use a subsidized interest rate to build seasonal housing, a provision in the program restricts occupancy to domestic workers only or for workers who are working toward permanent citizenship. If a farmer has 514 housing but wants to participate in the H2A program because there’s a lack of domestic workers, Boehm says it’s a major conflict. Farm Bureau is working with congressional delegates to remove the restriction from the 514 provisions.

Every service for an H2A worker is available for domestic workers, Boehm says. “If a domestic worker is traveling from another state or maybe lives 60 miles from the farm site — they need housing and it’s provided,” he says. Other incentives farmers provide include transportation and distance learning. “When you think about a family that might be in Texas or Florida, and as the crops wind up there, they look north. But for asparagus that happens before their school-aged children have completed the school year, so we’re trying to make sure we have broadband access to some of these rural areas so they can complete their schooling.”

Boehm says Great Lakes Ag Labor Services is trying to grow as fast as possible to meet the needs of farmers. In 2015 it worked with 10 farms that brought just over 400 guest workers to Michigan. This year he says the program plans to bring almost 1,000 workers. “We know that’s not enough, but we do know it helps to have some additional labor into an area, and it helps to spread some of the domestic workers that are available around to some other farms.”

Participating in an H2A program is more expensive for farms, but Boehm says farmers believe it’s worth the investment, “Even though the cost is higher, they’ve seen more productivity and higher-quality fruit by having enough labor.”

Drake says it gives farmers peace of mind. She remembers one of the first farms she worked with that used the H2A program. “I was sitting in the back of the room with the farmer who made the investment into the program and he said, ‘This is like Christmas in July sitting here knowing that when I get up tomorrow morning, I have workers who have agreed to stay until the work is done.’”

Heslip is the Michigan anchor and reporter for Brownfield Ag News.