Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/34757
H-2A WORKERS are costly, but valuable with, but Scott McDougall, manager of the orchard division at McDougall & Sons in Wenatchee, Washington, says foreign guest- workers have become their best work force. The company first used the H-2A program in 2008 T Scott McDougall when it recruited 60 foreign workers. In 2009, it had 119 workers, and last year 190. It has recruited guest- workers again for the 2011 season. Many of the work- ers are referred by the orchard managers, and about 85 percent of the workers return the following year. The beauty of the program, from the company’s point of view, is that it now has a guaranteed and mostly experienced work force, McDougall said. “It’s the best work force we have because we’ve invested the time to train them on tying and thinning.” The workers like to return because they know where they’re going to live and how they’ll be treated, he said. “They’re the most productive people you can get, as opposed to what our other work force has been—people coming off the street who are moving around and don’t have a lot of skills. “This is a plus,” he said, “But you’ve made an investment for that experience.” McDougall said most of the foreign workers who sign up for the program are ambitious. Even though they might not be skilled initially, they come with the intention of working hard. The changing rules for the program have been a frustration, McDougall said, and if he were a grower just thinking about getting into the program, he might hesitate. He thinks it probably wouldn’t be worthwhile using the program for fewer than 50 people. “It depends what your pain threshold is,” he added. “The pain is high when you first get your people, because they’re not an experienced work force. “I would hope there would be some sort of legisla- tion that would give the farmer an easy vehicle to have a guest-worker program without having something as onerous as the H-2A program. I think that’s why there are not a lot of people involved with it.” McDougall & Sons’s contract last year covered almost 2,000 acres of apples, pears, and cherries in north central Washington and the Columbia Basin. The company obtained a zero-interest loan from the state to help pay for the housing it constructed— funding that is no longer available. “If we didn’t have a lot of acreage out there, and we weren’t able to spread the administrative costs a little bit, would we be involved with this program? Probably not,” he said. “But I still think it’s a good investment up to now for where we’re at, particularly when we got the help with the funding. I still worry about getting those crops off every year.” McDougall said a proposed mandatory online ver- ification process to ensure that workers are properly documented has growers worrying about how they will be able to find a legal work force in the future. “If you’re in the program for a while, it’s the best work force you’re going to find, but you had to make a heck of an investment to get the people there,” he added. “At least you have a percentage of people you know are going to be helping to get the crop off.” —G. Warner 8 JUNE 2011 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com he H-2A guest-worker program is expensive and difficult to comply