Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/705612
14 AUGUST 2016 Good Fruit Grower www.goodfruit.com migrant laborers — foreign guest workers on H-2A visas — but can't because their loan limits them to housing U.S. residents. Growers considering joining the wave of building apartments for foreign workers should view the Orchard Homes tale as cautionary when they seek funding and steer away from a popular federal program that restricts money to structures for domestic workers only, the same one now tying the hands of the Milton-Freewater facility. "We had a perfect housing infrastructure to bring H-2A workers in, but we can't use that structure, and it's going broke because we can't use it," said Tom Waliser, a Milton-Freewater apple and grape grower and member of the housing facility's board of directors. The group owes about $1.4 million on its loan, Waliser said. Vacancies have left it low on short-term cash flow. Either the farmers must fill more vacant units with seasonal workers or completely renovate the complex into attractive permanent apartments, a multi-mil- lion-dollar project they can't afford. One solution may be to turn over the keys to another organization outside of the agricultural industry. "If we have to make it more attractive year-round housing, somebody else is going to have to do that," Waliser said. Policy problem It's a common quandary throughout the nation, hitting growers in Michigan, New York and other places increasingly relying on H-2A workers. Diane Kurrle, senior vice president of the U.S. Apple Association, has been lobbying with no success to change the requirements of the loan program, the USDA's Farm Labor Housing Direct Loans and Grants Program, some- times called 514 funding. "Obviously we recognize this as a government pol- icy that doesn't make sense and we're trying to fix it," said Kurrle, the main lobbyist for the Vienna, Virginia, organization. The problem requires a legislative fix. In the past, the group and other organizations have pushed for one through the Farm Bill or appropriations bills, but sup- porters always run up against the same gridlock that has prevented the U.S. Congress from passing immigration reform. They tried again with a round of letters to law- makers earlier this year. In the meantime, Kurrle advises growers to avoid the 514 program if they ever might con- sider hiring H-2A workers. Ross CouRtney/Good FRuit GRoweR A patchwork of orchards and vineyards line the valley between Walla Walla, Washington, and Milton-Freewater, Oregon. "We had a perfect housing infrastructure to bring H-2A workers in, but we can't use that structure, and it's going broke because we can't use it." —Tom Waliser Wildfire ™ Gala RKD cv, PPAF Harvests 21 Days Early. Full Color. Wildfire@HeliosNursery.com Tye Fleming 509-787-7777