Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/668668
8 MAY 1, 2016 Good Fruit Grower www.goodfruit.com W hen it came their turn to cook after a long day of pruning pear trees, Daniel and Alberto Morales sought a little help from home. Using a photo of a handwritten family recipe texted to them by their aunt, the two broth- ers whipped up chicken and pork adobo to feed them- selves and their fellow H-2A workers living at the Brender Creek seasonal agricultural labor facility in Cashmere, Washington. Cooking is not normally their strong suit, but they do what they have to do 3,000 miles and a 50-hour bus ride from their home in Cuilapan, a mountain village in the Mexican state of Guerrero. "We make an effort," Daniel said through a translator. "There's no choice." Whether from Mexico, Thailand, Jamaica or migrating through the United States, farm workers need a place to live when working at an orchard or vineyard. Seasonal farm worker housing has turned into one of the most expensive and crucial facets growers must address to make sure they have enough hands to prune, thin and pick their fruit every year. To meet that need, growers can — and do — invest millions in their own housing units. In the past fi ve years, growers have spent more than $100 million on housing, said Dan Fazio, executive director of the Olympia-based farm labor organization WAFLA. But not all can afford it, have the land for it or care to manage their own facilities. "Housing development is a big job and it takes your focus away from farming," said Mike Gempler, executive director of the Washington Growers League, a Yakima nonprofi t that focuses on labor issues. So, growers rent from the local market or book through a facility operated by the Growers League, WAFLA or the Catholic Charities Housing Services. Catholic Charities, also based in Yakima, offers sea- sonal farm worker housing in 17 Central Washington communities. Meanwhile, WAFLA — formerly known as the Washington Farm Labor Association — has a 96-bed facility in Mesa and has applied for funding for a 150-bed facility in Omak it hopes to open in 2018. The Growers League, which owns Brender Creek and the Sage Bluff complex about 45 minutes away in Malaga, will break ground this spring on a 144-bed facil- ity in Mattawa, a small Grant County community with a surging fruit and wine grape industry. The Washington Department of Commerce awarded the Growers League a $3 million grant in December, and the facility should open for its fi rst tenants in 2017. The Growers League also is applying for a grant to build another 200 beds in Mattawa on the same grounds, with the goal of opening that section in 2018. Mattawa has one of Washington's highest seasonal farm labor housing needs. People often live 10 to 15 to a Homes away from HOMe Labor Growers bringing in H-2A and other workers are turning to new facilities for housing needs. by Ross Courtney "Housing development is a big job and it takes your focus away from farming." —Mike Gempler