www.goodfruit.com Good Fruit Grower AUGUST 2016 23
Luiz Perez Cerna, a guest worker from
Michoacán, Mexico, started at Stemilt
a year ago. At first he was skeptical of
blending into a platform team, but a vet-
eran H-2A employee convinced him to
try. Now, he feels safer on platforms and
believes he is making more money.
"The whole time you're using your
hands to pick, not to move the ladder
and climb the ladder," said Perez Cerna,
a 24-year-old father of two.
In early June, Perez Cerna and three
H-2A crewmates stood high atop a
bright orange platform, strapped with
harnesses, thinning Gala apples. Two
men worked each side, each at different
heights. Because they were being paid
collectively per tree, Perez Cerna, charged
with thinning the very tops, hopped
over to the other side to help during the
occasional break in action on his own
side. Two other platform teams crawled
through the orchard following the same
routine.
TJ Mullinax/Good FruiT Grower
ross CourTney/Good FruiT Grower
Jessica Medina of Columbia Fruit Packers prunes Kanza apples in February from atop a self-
driving orchard platform while another passes in the background in Ephrata, Washington.
