Immigration issue affects local farms

By: Cara Latham
   As debate has been brewing over efforts to reform immigration policies throughout the nation, farmers in New Jersey, such as Jim Durr of North Hanover Township and Chet Halka of Millstone Township, could be among those who hurt.
   Members of the New Jersey Farm Bureau, as well as local farmers, said that they support revisions to the immigration system, but are worried that the issue will take its toll on the agricultural industry in New Jersey if a guest worker program and reforms to the migrant worker program are not addressed.
   The H-2A program, under the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, is for employers wishing to hire migrant workers as temporary agricultural workers. The purpose of the program is to "ensure employers an adequate labor force on the one hand, and to protect the jobs of U.S. workers on the other," according to a H-2A booklet compiled by the DOL. Employers have to prove that there are not sufficient U.S. workers available for the job and must actively try to recruit U.S. workers.
   Ben Casella, a field representative with the New Jersey Farm Bureau, said that the agriculture community is "looking for some stability in the labor force," but that there are still a lot of questions and unknowns as to what would happen if stricter immigration enforcement was implemented.
   "Basically, agriculture utilizes a lot of migrant labor for the fresh market crops that need to be hand-harvested," he said. "There’s not many people here that are willing to do those entry level jobs."
   According to a report in the New Jersey Farm Bureau Update written by Executive Director Peter Furey, "our nursery, vegetable and fruit/berry commodity sectors dominate our industry, comprising at least a 65 percent share of the total value of farm production in the state. Each of the farmers in those sectors are highly dependent on seasonal labor."
   Mr. Casella said that all farmers legally hire all of their workers, check their documentation, and workers go through the whole process of entering the country legally as a migrant worker. But the system is already flawed, he said.
   Chet Halka, who owns a tree farm in Millstone Township, and utilizes migrant labor, agrees.
   "There’s a lot of things wrong with the H-2A programs," he said. "That would have to be cleaned up, as well as doing something about the 12 million-plus people living in this country already that have probably been here for 12 or 15 years."
   He said that part of the problem with the H-2A program is that in order to be a member, the migrant or seasonal workers have to prove that they have never been in the country before. If they have been in the United States and have gone back to their home countries, they become ineligible to participate.
   "What happens to all the people who are in this country?" he said, referring to those who have gone back to their own countries and returned to again find work. "They’re not leaving. They give them no option."
   Mr. Casella said that a guest worker program, along with adjustment of status for the workers who are already here working for farmers would be favorable.
   "Many of them have years of experience in what they do," he said. "Most of the farmers would like to keep their workers."
   Mr. Halka said he currently has about 60 employees, some of whom are migrant workers.
   Stricter immigration policies would devastate farmers’ ability to make a living, because no one would be able to perform the duties, he said.
   "Whatever they do to the border, I hope they don’t think these 12 million people are saying, ‘OK, We’re leaving, we’re going home.’"
   "Somehow they’ve got to come up with the compromise for people who are already here," he said. "Who’s going to do those jobs? Because it has nothing to do with money. I can pay the average American twice what I pay migrant workers and they’re still not going to do the job. They could start putting farmers out of business."
   As to what that compromise should be, Mr. Halka said that he wouldn’t know, but mentioned that in 1976, a lot of illegal immigrants were granted amnesty and were allowed to eventually become citizens if they could prove they had a place to live and a job.
   And Mr. Casella said that "it’s hard to put a time frame or exact projection as to what would happen" to farms in New Jersey if stricter immigration reform were to take place, given that there could be so many variables that come into play.
   "It’s basically a concern of everyone that is in agriculture that produces a fresh market product that utilizes a fairly substantial labor force," said Mr. Casella.

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   But, "if the country decides to go strictly enforcement, that’s going to have a larger impact," Mr. Casella said. "It would definitely cause problems within the agriculture industry at probably a more rapid pace."
   Trisha Hallock, of Hallock’s U-Pick Farm & Greenhouses in Plumsted, said her farm does not employ migrant workers because a lot of the business centers around customers picking their own produce, and teenagers are available to work cash registers.
   But she said she could "definitely" see how the immigration issue would affect many of the farms in the area.
   "If you really think of the farming community, nobody wants to do that work anymore," she said. "It’s tough to get people to do it. We’re very lucky with what we have. I don’t think the big farms in South Jersey can make it without the immigrants."
   Jim Durr, who owns flower farms and in North Hanover, Chesterfield, Mansfield and Springfield, said he employs about 35 migrant workers in peak seasons and averages a payroll of $1 million a year. From May to October, he averages a payroll of about $30,000 a week, which he says helps local economy.
   The entire agricultural economy is dependent largely upon these type of workers, he said.
   "Whether or not they make the borders stricter is irrelevant so long as that type of help is available legally," he said.
   All of the workers on his farm are employed legally, meaning that they pay Social Security and income taxes, and are like any other employee, he said. And he provides housing for them.
   "If we didn’t have them, we wouldn’t exist," he said. "As a farmer, I want to be able to employ the people I need to work on my farm in a legal fashion, and we do that the way the laws have prescribed us to do that now. But you can’t help but be aware of the problems in that system."
   The biggest problem, said Mr. Durr, is that people think that migrant workers don’t pay taxes, "and I can attest to the fact that that’s totally incorrect," he said.
   While Mr. Durr has never had to use the H-2A program, he still has to ensure the employees submit what appear to be valid credentials. But there is not a domestic source for this type of labor, he said. "Our culture has changed, so that doesn’t exist anymore."
   "We have had to resort to a neighboring country that’s very poor and their inhabitants don’t have a lot of economic options except to come work in our fields," he said.
   It’s always been that way because of the nature of the business, he said. The nature of the agriculture economy is restrictive to the amount of compensation field workers can receive.
   "In the 1920s, Italian immigrants picked my father’s tomatoes," he said, adding that now, their sons and daughters are professionals in the working world. "They’re not picking tomatoes anymore."
   And the problem is something that farmers in the rest of New Jersey and around the nation are facing, he said.
   While there are segments in the industry that don’t rely on field workers, like the grain business, where mechanical labor is used, "every place in agriculture where there’s hand work involved, even including milking cows, there is and has been a shortage" of domestic workers, he said.
   "If you think of a meager job in our country — maybe working at a convenience store, maybe working at a fast-food restaurant — these places have a hard time finding help," he said. "But in the same token, I don’t think you can take many workers out of McDonald’s restaurants and place them in the field. That’s not going to happen."
   The rate of compensation and minimum wage is related to the nature of the industry, he said.
   In agriculture, it "has always been troubled and limited. It’s been that way historically," he said. "There’s always jobs in the nation’s economy that are considered meager-paying jobs, but there’s reason for it."
   Despite the requirements for farmers to fill out the proper forms, and the enforcement policies that are already in place, Mr. Halka said farmers are worried that they can become a vulnerable target if they voice their opinions on the matter.
   But many farmers agree that reform is needed, he said.
   "Eventually, they’re going to come up and start fining the employers or deporting the immigrants, and then what happens? What does the farmer do at that point?" he said.