Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/668668
www.goodfruit.com Good Fruit Grower MAY 1, 2016 19 into steps. It's a grower-friendly service," said Fred Leitz, a Sodus, Michigan, fruit and vegetable grower, who con- tracts with the firm. For now, all the workers GLALS brings in come from Mexico. The company recruits workers, arranges trans- portation to and from Mexico, brings workers to the farms where they will be employed, and provides con- tracts and training. Prior to arrival, workers know what jobs they will be doing, as well as their work hours, wages and duration of their contracts. When workers arrive, GLALS pro- vides bilingual support for training, housing and health information. Once workers arrive in Michigan, growers provide transport each week to places like the bank and grocery and other retail stores. Growers, meanwhile, know their laborers are in the country legally. For the past four years, Fred Leitz and his three broth- ers left crops in their fields and apples on the trees. Like so many other growers in North America, they've recently discovered they can no longer depend on what was once a vast labor pool to pick and pack their products. The brothers farm 600 acres intensively, all in plasti- culture and drip irrigation. The fourth generation to farm the land, they raise blueberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, apples and cantaloupes, all for fresh markets in the Midwest and the East. They hire 250 people annually, which includes some full-time, local people. In the summer, the Leitzes hire 175 workers for harvesting and another 60 for packing. "We have always hired from the migrant stream," Leitz said. They hired locally and had 80 percent of their work force returning each year — until four years ago. "It's been four years since we've been able to harvest all our crops," he said. Leitz said there are two reasons for the labor shortage he and his brothers are experiencing. One is an aging labor pool and the other is a border situation unfavor- able to farm labor. As president of the National Council of Agricultural Employers, a trade association located in Washington, D.C., representing agricultural employers, Leitz has visited Congress several times to try to gain dispensations for farm labor. With no ready solution presenting itself, Leitz said he was forced to hire H-2A labor. After looking around at a few firms, he settled on Michigan Farm Bureau's Great Lakes Agricultural Labor Service. Leitz said there are a lot of good H-2A agents in the country, and most are NCAE members. "We chose Great Lakes because they were close and we liked the way they interact with growers and workers," he said. One of the things he likes is that not everyone who applies is accepted as a client. "GLALS staff comes to your farm and does a real good audit to see if it is in com- pliance with the H-2A program regulations. If you fail, they tell you why and what you have to do to come into compliance," he said. The company also runs four to five on-farm sessions a year to bring growers up to date on the program. "They tell us, here's where you are, here's what you have to do and here's what's coming," Leitz said. This year, Leitz has 150 H-2A workers coming to his farm under two contracts, one starting in late April and the other starting in June. Both end in mid-October. Leitz warned H-2A will only solve labor shortages. "If you have labor issues, it will not correct that problem," he said. "You have to straighten all that out before you get involved with this program. People have to like working for you or this will not work out." He also warned potential participants to follow the program's regulations exactly as they are written. "You have to do it the way the U.S. Department of Labor tells you to do it. It doesn't pay to do it your way." • Crop insurance is all the same... agents are not. This institution is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Northwest FCS Crop Insurance Agents specialize in what they do, with the in-depth knowledge required to guide you through the maze of ever-changing crop insurance rules and regulations. Unlike other insurance providers, our licensed agents focus solely on crop insurance, working full time to help producers manage risk. • Crop Hail • Yield-based Insurance • Revenue-based Insurance Call to see for yourself what sets Northwest FCS apart. 800.743.2125 | northwestfcs.com